


the world inside of us

by kangtv (galacticnik)



Category: NU'EST, Produce 101 (TV), Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Alternate Universe - Vampire, M/M, and with appearances from Pledis artists, with appearances of others from Produce 101
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-03
Updated: 2018-03-03
Packaged: 2019-03-20 15:23:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 43,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13720503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/galacticnik/pseuds/kangtv
Summary: This city belongs to vampires.Vampires of the Mugunghwa coven are being killed. Its leader has tasked the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs with figuring out who is behind the murders. With only a shaky truce holding them together, agents Kim Jonghyun and Hwang Minhyun head deep undercover into Mugunghwa territory to try and solve the case before more die.Like many things, it’s easier said than done.





	1. i. first blood

**Author's Note:**

  * For [wildflower (bangtrashsyd)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bangtrashsyd/gifts).



> **please note:** standard warnings associated with common vampire tropes apply, including mentions of blood, blood drinking (consensual and of dubious consent), self-injury, suicide, use of humans as food, implied mind control, implied human slavery and trafficking, referenced kidnapping, non-explicit descriptions of violence, torture, and murder, and off-screen minor character death. there is no sexual content (explicit or implied) in this fic. **these warnings are merely a precaution;** the elements described above do not play a large role within the plot.
> 
> * _all italicized scenes take place five years ago._  
> 
>  **dear recipient,**  
>  as a huge fan of your nu'est works, i was thrilled to get the opportunity to write for you during the exchange. by some unfortunate stroke of luck, this ended up not being the fic i originally wanted to gift, but putting it together has been something of an adventure so i hope there are at least a few parts in it that work for you. the past month and a half has been a crazy frenzy of writing, revising, rewriting, and crying (among other things), but it's been a fun and rewarding experience as well, thanks in large part to the mods (and you!). thank you for your prompts and thank you for the time you take to read this. most importantly, thank you allowing me to write for you!

_Nowhere, beloved, can world exist but within. Our life passes in transformation._  
— **Rainer Maria Rilke** , from  _The Seventh Elegy_  

✩

Kahi’s office is stark and devoid of personality—white walls and sleek metal furniture kept to a minimum. Jonghyun remembers it much differently, with bookshelves lining the walls, a lit fireplace no matter what the weather was like outside, plush armchairs you could sink into, and a pretentious yet _ugly_ Persian rug tying it all together. But whatever warm and comforting atmosphere it once held is gone, replaced by minimalist decor and, most _offendingly_ , a plastic chair that squeaks every time he tries to shift in it.

The room is not the only thing colder than he was anticipating. Dressed in all white, Kahi sits behind the desk with an impassive expression, golden eyes trained straight ahead. He mumbles out a quick hello and takes a seat across from her, trying his best not to stare—or make eye contact. Something about her feels alien and unlike the director he’s come to know over the past ten years.

It is to be expected. Immortals like Kahi do a hard reset every few centuries: like cleaning house, it’s a chance to get rid of old and obsolete memories, sever unnecessary emotional attachments to people, and so on. Being on the receiving end is daunting and he can’t stop himself from searching for traces of the person he used to know, for a hint of something familiar. He thinks he finds _something_ , but it could be a case of him projecting too.

Jonghyun tucks his hands under his thighs to keep from fidgeting as the silence between them stretches on. Kahi seems content not to say anything and sit there unblinking as Jonghyun grows more anxious and curious as the seconds pass. Finally, she leans forward and asks, “How are you?”

He highly doubts his emotional state is of any interest to her. “I’m okay,” he says immediately, then clears his throat and goes again. “I’m doing good. Fully healed after the last mission.” Even with magically-aided healing, recovering from a couple of broken ribs is a long process. It’s what he deserves for underestimating a _dullahan_ and letting his partner down. Seungcheol is kind enough not to blame him, Jonghyun knows he screwed up, plain and simple. But Kahi doesn’t want to hear any of that. They write reports for that very reason.

“Good.” Kahi’s expression doesn’t change. “I have a case for you.”

He exhales softly. Jonghyun guessed as much when she summoned him to her office. It’s always been a kind of sacred space, one you only enter if you’re getting a job or if you’re in trouble. Considering all he’s really done in the past three months is push paper in a boring desk job, the thought of going back into the field is a relief. Whether he’s fully ready for it is a different story—Jonghyun just knows he can’t be stuck in the office any longer.

He does his best to conceal his excitement as Kahi pulls a file out of the drawer and slides it towards him. “You’re not going to like it,” she adds, as Jonghyun moves to pick it up.

Hand resting on top of the file, Jonghyun tenses. Nothing about Kahi says worried, but the disclaimer is so out of character that his anxiety spikes. “On a scale of one to ten, with ten being ‘will make me want to jump off a cliff’?”

Her stony expression finally cracks into a smile. “I suppose you’ll be cliff diving, then.”

That doesn’t sound good. Jonghyun tries to maintain a positive, can-do attitude about most things, or tries to make people believe he does. It takes a lot to publically faze him and he wonders what this assignment could possibly involve that would have Kahi practically write him off from the start. After a few minutes of silence, an answer pops unbidden into his mind: the memory of being sliced open, sharp teeth digging into his skin, and then—

_Fire._

He opens his mouth, then snaps it shut without a sound. Picking at his cuticles, he struggles to keep his breathing even. No point in jumping to conclusions, Jonghyun reminds himself. He trusts Kahi; reset or no, she wouldn’t—

“Someone or something is murdering vampires of the Mugunghwa coven.” Kahi sounds almost apologetic, or maybe he’s hearing what he wants to hear in her flat statement. Jonghyun’s fingers curl into fists. The mere mention of the _v-word_ sends him spinning, trying desperately to latch onto something real and safe, but in the unfamiliar room, there’s nothing for him to hold onto. The office suddenly feels too open and exposed. Jonghyun casts and glance over his shoulder for any shadows and forces himself to calm down when he finds none. The Bureau of Supernatural Affairs’ headquarters is one of the most tightly guarded locations in the region. He doesn’t have to worry.

Unperturbed by his reaction, Kahi continues, “The coven leader, Boa, asked us to quietly investigate and determine the culprit so the coven can…” Her mouth thins. “ _Control_ the situation.”

Forcing himself to unclench his fists, he brushes over the scars dotting his palm before flipping the file open. None of its contents really register in his mind aside from _Mugunghwa_ and _vampire_ and _dead_.

“Vampire covens have old rivalries,” he says finally, forcing the words out past the lump in his throat. “It could be the Kkamagwi.” As far as they know, vampire covens remain divided on three issues: bloodlines, territory, and food sources. The Mugunghwa and the Kkamagwi are known to be the bitterest of enemies. If one is targeted in any way, it’s safe to say the other is responsible.

Kahi shakes her head. “The coven leader and I both believe that it’s coming from within. All signs point to it being an internal job, and thankfully so—or we’d be on the brink of war.” For the first time, Jonghyun notices the dark circles under Kahi’s eyes, the misbuttoned blazer, and the slight shaking of her hands.

Despite everything, he feels a stab of sympathy for her. Dealing with vampires is exhausting and nerve wracking on the best of days. They are creatures of pure malice—coven-bonded ones more than most. Precisely why Jonghyun wants nothing to do with Mugunghwa, or vampires in general. Anything but vampires. He sucks in a deep breath. “I don’t see the problem with bloodsuckers killing their own.”

 _“Jonghyun.”_ Kahi’s eyes momentarily turn black and the room thrums with power. Though he shrinks down in his seat, Jonghyun refuses to apologize. He could have worded that better, but a small ugly part of him thinks he isn’t going to weep over a couple of dead vampires. The fewer around, the better.

Still, he tries to appear contrite until Kahi’s glare subsides. “Boa cannot trust anyone in her inner circle to take care of this matter as discreetly as she requires, and she doesn’t want to give other covens the opportunity to take advantage of Mugunghwa’s weakened state.”

Of course. Showing any kind of weakness in front of the other vampire covens would be disastrous. They would pounce on Mugunghwa like sharks in the water and rip it to shreds. “So they asked _us_ to take care of it?” His skepticism is obvious. Mugunghwa is one of the many covens who take every opportunity to reject the bureau’s authority. Jonghyun can’t understand why they’d take a job for them.

Kahi’s face is unreadable. “I owe Boa a favor,” is all she is willing to say. Her stony expression brokers no argument. “I need you to go undercover—”

“But I’m human.” He winces as soon as the words are out of his mouth. The spells etched into his skin itch as if to call attention to the lie. “I smell like a human,” Jonghyun amends. “No vampire is going to cooperate with me.” Especially not a member of the Mugunghwa coven; their history stretches back to the original Thirteen. They’re a proud group for whom humans are only one thing: cattle.

“Which is why I’m also assigning Minhyun to this case as your partner.”

Jonghyun chokes and almost shoots out of his seat. His heart pounds wildy in his chest, a roar building his ears. Kahi’s words are muffled, as if coming from a great distance. “He’s the only person who can help you investigate the coven without raising suspicions.”

 _“No.”_ The words rip out of him with too much force. “No—I’m not going to—not with _him_.”

“Minhyun is the only vampire agent we have at this regional office.” Kahi’s voice is chilly and devoid of sympathy. Whatever procedure she underwent can’t have erased what she knows of Jonghyun’s issues with vampires. It’s in his files, for God’s sake. She should know their history, that sending them out on the same assignment is risky. But her words are a final blow. “Boa has agreed to extend a temporary coven membership to him, and you will be masquerading as his personal feeder.”

“I won’t do it.” Jonghyun has spent five long and hard years staying away from the undead man for both their sakes. Five whole years putting himself back together after what happened. Five years of categorically ignoring Minhyun’s existence. Five years of pain and loneliness and guilt threatening to engulf him every time he catches a glimpse of Minhyun’s face at the office. Five years of knowing that the man behind the red eyes and pale skin is dead—and Jonghyun is to blame.

A heavy silence settles between them. Kahi’s golden eyes are like two small suns boring into him. A bead of sweat runs down Jonghyun’s forehead as he strains to keep calm. To keep himself from slipping into memories of the past.

“I need a witch for this, Jonghyun,” Kahi says eventually. Her tone is not unkind. “I can’t send Minhyun in by himself. It’s policy— _you_ wrote it. You know I can’t send less than two agents, and you know they have to be able to take care of themselves. It’s you or Yewon.”

Jonghyun is appalled. “Yewon’s a _kid_.”

“She’s the most powerful witch we have.”

He looks away. _Well_ , he thinks bitterly, _there’s no real choice in the end, is there?_ “Then I’ll go.” Jonghyun could never send Yewon into danger in good conscience—and anything involving vampires is always a risk. He hasn’t forgotten how good witch blood is supposed to taste to vampires.

Jonghyun digs his nails into his palm once more, deep enough to draw blood. The sight of it makes him sick to his stomach. “You have a week to prepare, then we’ll move you both to temporary lodging within the Efes Enclave,” Kahi says, snapping him out of his thoughts. Unease creeps over him at the mention of an enclave; the self-contained ‘vampire’ cities spell bad news. “I don’t know how long the investigation will take, but no longer than a few weeks, I hope.” Kahi hesitates. “For what it’s worth,” she says softly. “I’m sorry.”

Apologies are nothing but words in the end. Tucking the file under his arm, Jonghyun stands. The chair scrapes painfully against the floor, unnaturally loud in the silent office. “I understand,” he says stiffly, attempting to give Kahi a smile. Over the years, he’s gotten good at lying, but the look Kahi gives him makes it clear she isn’t convinced. Still, she dismisses him without a word, perhaps to avoid listening to any protests.

His movements are robotic as he closes the door and spots Minhyun stand and make his way to Kahi’s office out of the corner of his eye. For a brief moment, they make contact, and Minhyun’s face morphs into one of a question and worry. Instead of responding, Jonghyun turns away and makes a beeline for the exit, ignoring Seungcheol’s questions or Jihoon’s sharp retorts.

It’s too much—and he’s not ready for this.

 

* * *

 

_“We have a new case,” Minhyun says, tossing the file into Jonghyun’s lap. Frowning as he takes in the mess of papers and empty cup noodle containers littering Jonghyun’s desk, Minhyun sinks into his chair before wheeling over with an empty plastic bag in hand. “How many times have I asked you to clean up your workspace?”_

_“Hmmmm, did you ever say anything like that? I don’t remember.” Jonghyun flips open the file and skims through the reports while Minhyun cleans up after him, grumbling under his breath. It seems like a fairly standard ghost complaint—nothing too dangerous to handle, maybe an afternoon’s work if Minhyun is able to pull the gut off properly the first time._

_He closes the file to see Minhyun standing over him with his arms crossed over his chest. “I put up with your mess enough at home,” he says flatly, scowling, and Jonghyun tries to assemble his most wide-eyed, innocent expression in return. He knows just how to make Minhyun cave. And sure enough, Minhyun sighs and shakes his head. “Kim Jonghyun, I regret ever meeting you.”_

_Minki looks over and whistles. “Is the Dream Team having a lover’s spat?” he asks gleefully, eyes sparkling. Dongho nudges him and tries to bring his attention back to the report they’re compiling, but Choi Minki never misses a chance to tease the crap out of Minhyun and Jonghyun if he can help it._

_“No. Minhyun loves me,” Jonghyun says. There are only a handful of things he’s a hundred percent confident about in his life, and what he feels for Minhyun (and what Minhyun feels for him) is one of them. “Even if he regrets meeting me, I think meeting_ him _was the best thing that ever happened to me.”_

_Minki gags. “Disgusting.”_

_When Jonghyun looks back at Minhyun, his mouth is drawn up in a smile he clearly lost a fight with. “You are gross, you know that?” he says. Both hands come down to rest on Jonghyun’s shoulders as he leans down to steal a quick kiss. In the background, Minki and Dongho make choking noises in unison this time. “But you’re right. I do love you.” He straightens up and plucks the file from Jonghyun’s hands. “Let’s get this thing done, partner.”_

_Grinning, Jonghyun grabs his jacket and stands up, slipping his hand into Minhyun’s. “You got it, partner.”_

 

* * *

 

Short deadlines are one of his biggest weaknesses.

He has only a week to prepare himself both mentally and physically to enter into his worst nightmare. Seven whole days to pull together all the charms and talismans he can, to gather materials and craft and complete delicate spellwork, tasks that would ordinarily take him a couple of months.

Jonghyun doesn’t know what good any of these preparations will do in Efes, but it seems stupid not to try and keep them as backup. The enclaves, or vampire-led walled cities, are shrouded in mystery. Not many are allowed in and fewer still are allowed out. They rule themselves, with often a single coven in charge of an enclave—though power often changes hands through treaties and conquests. The Bureau of Supernatural Affairs and the national government have no jurisdiction within them.

The Efes Enclave was one of the first to be established over forty years ago and the Mugunghwa coven has ruled over it uncontested since. It represents stability and unwavering power and the might of vampires in this world.

It represents everything he hates.

And Kahi wants him to enter Efes unprotected, where humans are less than animals. Not unprotected, a deep, slippery part of his mind supplies. Minhyun will be there. Minhyun, and the weapons Jonghyun insisted he be provided with during his investigation. His vampire partner on this case might be able to protect him from other vampires, but Jonghyun doesn’t know if he can trust Minhyun to protect him from himself. He needs the stakes and blessed silver Boa agreed to smuggle into the enclave for him.

Jonghyun is no hunter, but having a real way to defend himself helps him feel in control. _Safe._ He has limited protection of his own—though not enough. The spells etched into his skin make him more than human, allowing him to channel the magic in his blood more easily, heighten his senses, and keep him warded from most surprise attacks.

Most witches get them after they graduate from the academy, but they don’t do much on their own. He relies on the talismans, amulets, paper charms, and other items he infuses magic into for specific, focused applications of power to be activated by a command word. Without them, without the spells he wears, he’s just a human with a drop of magic in his blood, and that won’t take him far in an enclave.

He shakes his head, trying to keep negative thoughts from entering into his mind. It’s a little too late for that, but teeth gritted, Jonghyun doubles down and focuses on painting the fire bomb spell into this bone amulet. Destructive magic is not his forte so he needs to be extra careful. Working with fire is always unpredictable and dangerous: too much magic and you could burn yourself, not enough and it’ll fizzle out. But fire is one of the only things that can harm a vampire.

And he needs to do something. If he’s keeping busy, he’s not thinking. If he’s not thinking, he’s not feeling overwhelmed and freaking out. And that’s the most important thing here: not freaking out.

He’s doing a terrible job of it.

This is how Minki finds him after dinner, gripping the amulet in his hand and swaying in place, the acrid smell of magic hanging thick in the air, mixing with the putrid stench coming from the potions brewing on the stove. It permeates through the apartment and sinks into his pores, making his eyes water. Despite his discomfort, he powers through, focusing on nothing but his work.

“So this is where you were hiding,” Minki’s dry tone cuts through the silence. Jonghyun glances up to see him leaning against the doorframe, twirling the spare key to his apartment around a finger. Wrinkling his nose at the smell, Minki adds, “You planning on opening a store? Can I suggest maybe burning some incense to help with the stench? Unless it’s supposed to be atmospheric.”

“It’s a limb regrowth potion,” Jonghyun says, turning back to his amulet. “It’s supposed to smell like that.”

Minki scoffs. “I hate to break it to you, but _no_ , it isn’t.” He deposits the keys on the counter and heads for the stove, rolling his sleeves up his elbows. Contrary to the elegant, spidery spirit writings on Jonghyun’s arms, Minki’s runes are thick and discordant, like screams trapped in his skin. “The fuck do you need to regrow a limb for anyway?”

“Just in case.” He doesn’t feel like admitting he was trying to make something else and messed up. “What are you doing here?”

“Hanging out.” Minki hefts the cauldron off the burner and carries it over to the sink, coughing as the steam blows in his face. “What, you’re not happy to see my beautiful face?” He drains the potion down the sink and Jonghyun doesn’t bother protesting. Good riddance; Jonghyun has a bad habit of trying to hold onto things that aren’t salvagble. Letting go isn’t easy.

“Nah, I’m kidding. I just came to check up on you, make sure you were doing okay,” Minki continues, setting the cauldron down and wiping his palms on his jeans. He turns to look at Jonghyun with something close to pity in his eyes, and Jonghyun’s stomach churns.

“Define ‘okay.’”

“That bad, huh?” Minki chuckles. It sounds false. He comes over to sit down beside Jonghyun with feigned casualness and nudges him until he looks up. “You look pretty tense. I’m guessing it has something to do with the Dream Team being back together again?”

At the mention of the old nickname, Jonghyun’s hand slips. He stares down at the broken spell line, an hour’s worth of work ruined. “How did you—”

“I didn’t spell the information out of Minhyun, if you’re wondering.” Minki looks uncomfortable all of a sudden. He tugs his sleeves down to avoid meeting Jonghyun’s eyes. “I saw you come out of Kahi’s office earlier today, then saw Minhyun come out half an hour later wearing the same expression. Seeing how you ran after that, I figured she finally put you two together on something.”

He’d normally make a lighthearted quip about Minki’s deductive reasoning skills, but he can’t force the words out of his mouth. His palms grow clammy; the amulet slips from his hands. Minki’s not known for being discreet, but that doesn’t stop Jonghyun from making a final plea. “Please don’t spread it around.”

“I didn’t have to. _Everyone_ knows; this is like the biggest news to come out of the year.” Minki picks up the amulet Jonghyun dropped and turns it around in his hands. “You guys haven’t worked together since—”

“I know.” How long has it been exactly? Five years, three months, and twenty seven days since their partnership dissolved. Five years, three months, and twenty seven days of Jonghyun bouncing from partner to partner, not being able to create synergy with anyone long enough to stick. He doesn’t need to be reminded of it. “I didn’t have a choice.” Dragging his hands down his face, he admits, “Kahi said it had to be either me or Yewon, and I couldn’t let it be her.”

Saying it out loud makes it sound like a threat. It was a threat. She knew he would never allow a rookie like Yewon to take on a difficult case like this one, even if it meant sacrificing himself. Kahi could justify her actions using need or necessity, but Jonghyun feels used and exploited. He wishes he could go back to the days when he was young and naive, ready to dedicate his life to facilitating interspecies cooperation.

But that was before, and this is _after_. Ten years of working for the bureau stripped all illusions of what this job might be like. He’s wiser now, less of a wide-eyed ingenue. Jonghyun understands making tough decisions and gambling with peoples’ lives; he just thought he was deserving of some respect for his years of loyal service. He should’ve called Kahi out on it then and there instead of letting the anger and disappointment fester, but it’s not in his nature to challenge authority even when he has good reason to.

In the end, it’s all part of the job. He signed up for this, and he should have known.

Watching the emotions flit across his face, Minki puts a comforting hand on his shoulder. “You did the right thing,” he says heavily. “Yewon isn’t experienced enough to handle something like—whatever it is you and Minhyun are doing. What the fuck are you doing?”

The assignment is classified, but a spark of rebelliousness ignites in his chest. “Vampires,” he says grimly. “We’re heading into the den of vampires.” He stumbles over the word but catches himself in time, managing to spit the whole thing out into Minki’s shocked face.

“Well, shit,” he says. “Which coven?

“Mugunghwa.”

Minki pulls away. “And Minhyun agreed to it,” he says, skepticism bleeding into his tone. “Why the fuck would Minhyun agree to work a vampire-related case with you, of all people?”

“I want the answer to that question too.”

“Then ask him.” Minki’s frustration is clear to see and hear. “ _Talk_ to him. You guys need to communicate, especially if you’re both going to be facing the fucking Mugunghwa coven together.” Underneath his annoyance is concern for the both of them.

“I haven’t… said anything to Minhyun in years.” They work in the same office space, but Jonghyun goes out of his way to avoid Minhyun, and vice versa, probably. Over the years, they’ve built up a system of careful circumvention, boundaries stacked higher than the border walls of Korea. And so far, it has worked.

“Don’t you think it’s time you did?” Minki says gently. He presses the amulet into Jonghyun’s palm and shifts away. Jonghyun closes his eyes and swallows. He doesn’t want to admit Minki is right—not yet. He’s gotten through the past few years by lying to himself, after all.

Absentmindedly, he reaches up to touch the faded scars on his neck, fingers running over raised skin. The most potent reminder of why he avoids vampires is carved into his flesh and he can never escape from it. If he closes his eyes, he can—

Jonghyun bites his lip. This is why he needs to keep busy, to stop himself from obsessing about the past. He tucks the amulet into his pockets and stands up. “Hey, where’s your tail?” he asks, changing the subject. Minki eyes him warily but follows Jonghyun to the kitchen.

“Dongho? He’s at home.” A shadow crosses over his face but quickly disappears as Jonghyun opens up his potion recipe book. “Besides, he’d be in the way.”

“In the way of what?” Does well-meaning harassment count? But Jonghyun is surprised; Minki and Dongho are never apart for long these days. Something about the constant maintenance Minki has to perform to even keep Dongho functional means he can’t be away from him too long. But being in this neighbourhood wreaks havoc on the spells holding Dongho together—the wards try to strip away all dark magic. Dongho’s happier staying away.

“I thought I’d give you a hand with,” Minki pauses and waves a hand around, “ _stuff_ if you needed it.”

“You failed every enchanting and crafting class you took,” Jonghyun points out. Though their specializations are different, he and Minki graduated from the same academy. But while Jonghyun gravitated towards complicated spell weaving and crafting items, Minki went to the necromantic arts.

“I kicked your ass in positions though, didn’t I?” Minki shoots back, elbowing him out of the way to grab the recipe book. “The least I can do is brew shit for you—I know it’s not your strong suit.” Flipping through a couple of pages, he lands on a few healing potions that are, admittedly, beyond Jonghyun’s skill level to make. “And I don’t need Dongho shuffling around behind me shedding limbs like a diseased starfish.”

“Please don’t compare your undead partner to a starfish.”

“Better than calling him a zombie.” His defeated tone worries Jonghyun, as do the dark circles under his eyes and the general unkempt state of his hair and clothing. Minki isn’t good at handling stress and he can see signs of him cracking, but Minki isn’t good at taking advice either.

Jonghyun still tries. “Why don’t you let him go?” he inquires, moving out of the way as Minki moves through his kitchen.

“Why don’t _you_ talk to Minhyun?” he fires back with heat in his voice. Jonghyun throws his hands up in surrender and Minki stills, sighing. “No, sorry, that was shitty of me.”

“It’s okay.” Jonghyun hesitates and adds quietly, “He probably doesn’t want to talk to me either.”

Minki shakes his head. “For a smart guy, you’re a dumbass sometimes.” He fishes a piece of paper from his pocket and pushes it against Jonghyun’s chest. “Minhyun asked me to pass on a note.”

He stares down in disbelief. “What is this, high school?”

“I ask myself that daily.” Leaning against the counter, Minki nods at the note. “I didn’t ask to be messenger boy during your cold war, you know?”

“It’s not a cold war.” His name is scrawled on top in Minhyun’s familiar elegant handwriting. Jonghyun can’t bring himself to open it right now, and especially not in front of Minki. “Sorry you have to be a go between, though.” He crumples the note up in his fist and shoves his hands in his pockets.

Minki’s face falls slightly. “It’s fine,” he says abruptly, straightening up. “I was kidding anyway. I care about both of you so I don’t mind it.” Jonghyun doesn’t know if that’s true. Though Minki doesn’t usually complain, it can’t be easy to try and balance friendships between two people who… aren’t. “But please promise me you’re going to read that note soon and speak to him.”

Jonghyun swallows. “You know I—”

“You have to, Jonghyun.” Minki cuts off his protests with a raised hand. “You need to be able to communicate with each other if you’re going into enemy territory. You need to know you can rely on him to have your back and he needs to know you have his.”

“We don’t have that trust anymore.” Hell, he doesn’t even know anything about Minhyun anymore, much less trust him with his life. Whoever Hwang Minhyun is now is a virtual stranger to Jonghyun. And that terrifies him—the thought of looking into his eyes and finding no trace of the man he used to care about.

“Find it.” Minki slams his hands down on the counter, magic crackling from his fingertips. “Don’t get so caught up in what already happened that you lose sight of what could happen if you guys can’t work it out.” He closes his eyes and exhales. “I can’t lose the both of you, got it?”

Maybe Jonghyun is being selfish. This isn’t just about him. He comes over to rub circles on Minki’s back. “I… I’ll take care of it,” he says finally. He’ll gain nothing from being stubborn. And Minki is right; they need to be able to work together if they’re really going to do this. _You’re a professional_ , Jonghyun reminds himself. _Don’t let personal issues get in the way of your job._

Five years is enough. He and Minhyun can’t run away from each other forever,

Minki raises his hand and stares at it until the sparks of magic dissipate.“We’re crap when it comes to these things—talking, dealing with trauma, all that kind of shit,” he says distantly, gaze unfocused. “But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist and it doesn’t mean we have to live with it.” Beneath his measured tone is a sense of kinship, of empathy. Minki knows what it’s like to be stuck in this place. Everyone has their own demons. Jonghyun’s have just been around longer than most. “Don’t let it win.”

“I won’t.” The confidence in his voice must sound sincere enough for Minki to accept because he doesn’t push for more. Jonghyun wishes he could believe it himself, but he knows his biggest enemy has always been one of his own making.

 

* * *

 

It takes him a couple of days to work up the nerve to look at Minhyun’s note. Its contents are fairly simple and straightforward: an address scrawled below the words _‘we should talk.’_ He expects more after all the build up, but maybe it really is just that simple and overdue.

Every bone in his body tells him that meeting a vampire in their own territory—their own _lair_ —is a death wish, but they don’t have the time to waste to coordinate neutral meeting grounds at this point. Tucking a wooden stake into his jacket pocket, Jonghyun heads over to Minhyun’s new apartment, hoping he doesn’t look or smell as scared as he actually is.

It takes every ounce of his courage to make the journey and even then it’s not enough. His hands are shaking as he stands outside Minhyun’s door, poised to knock. Part of Jonghyun is tempted to leave then and there, but he forces himself to stay. Before he can actually act, however, the door swings open to reveal Minhyun standing there, looking surprised and yet unsurprised to see Jonghyun here. He’s dressed in a knit sweater, his hair flat and falling over his eyes. “You came,” he says, brushing it back. “I didn’t think you would, to be honest.”

“I know.” Jonghyun manages to keep his voice level. It’s a victory, albeit a small one. “I wasn’t…” _Wasn’t going to come here. Wasn’t going to see you. Wasn’t, period._ His hands scramble to hold onto something, eventually settling for tugging at the hem of his jacket. “Kahi must have have told you about—”

“Kahi told me, yes.” Minhyun raises an eyebrow. “I didn’t expect you to agree to it.”

“I didn’t expect you to either.” He’s always functioned under the assumption that Minhyun feels as uncomfortable around Jonghyun as the other way around, maybe even more. And Minhyun has every right to hate him. Thought it could be something else too—Minhyun might want to figure out who’s killing his people. Truthfully, Jonghyun doesn’t know how Minhyun feels about other vampires. Like Kahi said, he’s the only vampire at the regional office. Jonghyun has no idea if he seeks out vampire company after work or if he’s even part of a coven. He has never dared to ask.

Minhyun presses his lips together into a bloodless line. “You’re not going to ask me why?” Red eyes peer down at him, offset by skin as pale and thin as rice paper. He waits too long in between blinks. It’s uncanny, just like the irregular rise and fall of his chest, all natural instincts that don’t come as naturally to his vampire body.

“Would you really tell me?”

Minhyun eyes him calmly. “I didn’t think I had to,” he says, and Jonghyun thinks he can hear a hint of sadness in his voice. Taking a step back, Minhyun looks over his shoulder. “Do you want to come inside?” he asks finally. “Since you came this far.”

He clenches his fists, nails digging into his palms and reopening old wounds. The stake rests heavily in his pocket and Jonghyun reminds himself that he’ll be okay. He needs to do this. Sucking in a breath, he takes a step forward, then another. Minhyun watches him carefully, giving him enough room to maneuver on his own. He’s respectful, but the sense of wrongness Jonghyun originally felt when looking at Minhyun intensifies. This isn’t him.

The sound of the door closing behind him is oddly final. With one hand closed around the stake, Jonghyun glances around the apartment, shivering. Minhyun keeps the place several degrees colder than Jonghyun is used to. The apartment is sparsely decorated, no shrines or banners or paper flowers around. It’s spotless too; a robot vacuum cleaner whirs over and bumps against Jonghyun’s feet. Blackout curtains keep the sun from shining in, but the room is well lit.

It doesn't look much different from Minhyun's old apartment. Emptier, but the change isn't as drastic as Jonghyun expected.

"Disappointed by the lack of a coffin?" Minhyun asks, noting the look on Jonghyun's face. His eyes flick down to the lump in Jonghyun's pocket, but he doesn't comment on it. "I tried to sleep in one for a couple of weeks for the aesthetic, but it was uncomfortable and made me feel like I was dead."

“I—what? No.” He was, momentarily. Aside from the curtains, nothing about this place would indicate that a vampire lives here. Jonghyun won't be lured into complacency, however. His grip tightens.

Minhyun heads to the kitchen. “Go ahead and take a seat.” Opening the fridge, he peers inside, the light casting a harsh glow on his features. “Do you want something to eat? Drink?”

"We don't have the same tastes," he says automatically, then bites his lip a moment later, wishing he could take it back. Jonghyun doesn't want to call attention to the difference in species between them. It only makes him uncomfortable.

There's silence for a moment as Minhyun's eyes widen, then crinkle when he bursts into laughter. Like his breathing and blinking, it doesn't sound natural, as if he's forgotten how to in the past five years and had to teach himself again but didn't manage to get it right. "I keep a beer or two around for old times' sake, but you're right." Retrieving a plain silver pouch from the fridge, he slams the door shut. "I don't really have anything to offer. Don't get a lot of people passing through."

Still tense, Jonghyun takes a seat on the lone recliner. “You never did like to entertain.”

“I entertained plenty.” Looking affronted, Minhyun takes a seat across from him and stabs a straw through the small opening of his pouch and brings it to his mouth. “But you’re not here for that.”

"Minki thinks we should work on our communication skills." Using Minki's name is easier than using his own.

Minhyun frowns. "We _have_ no communication."

"I want to fix that. For the mission," he tacks on hastily. "If we're going into Efes, we should—"

"Be able to talk to each other without looking like we want to die," Minhyun finishes. "I can't argue with you there." Jonghyun waits for some kind of accusation or condemnation from Minhyun, some bitter statement of how their strained relationship is his fault, but he just sips from his straw and studies Jonghyun like it's the first time he's gotten a look at him in years. It might just be.

An uncomfortable weight settles on Jonghyun's chest along with the silence between them. When Minhyun breaks it, his voice is soft and nostalgic. “You haven’t changed.”

Jonghyun blinks. “What?”

“You haven’t changed,” Minhyun repeats patiently. “You have that look on your face. You know, the one that practically yells you're going to worry yourself into an early grave if someone doesn't stop you."

"No one _is_ going to stop me," he replies dryly. "It's good to worry. Aren't you worried?" Jonghyun has no idea how the hell they're going to pull this off.

“Not really.” Blood pools at the tip of Minhyun’s straw. It's such a jarring visual reminder of who he is now that Jonghyun's breath catches in his chest at the sight. He has to force himself to look away. “I’m just looking forward to working with you again.”

Jonghyun laughs, a bitter, unhappy sound piercing through the air. “I doubt it.”

“Is that really so hard to believe?”

His heart speeds up. “Why would you when I did this to you? I turned you into a—” The word dies on his tongue. He’s always justified his avoidance of Minhyun by believing the latter resents him for what happened and what he was forcibly turned into. When things go wrong, there's always someone to blame, and in that case, responsibility fell on Kim Jonghyun.

Minhyun's expression hardens. "You didn't do anything," he says curtly. "And it was a long time ago, Jonghyun. I'm not the one clinging onto the past and flagellating myself over what happened between us." He leans forward and rests his elbows on his knees. "I've been trying to move forward with my life."

 _Move forward._ That sounds perfect, except that Jonghyun doesn't think it deserves to be forgotten and left behind in the past. "How can you talk about moving on?" Jonghyun carries scars, but Minhyun lives with more. His are laid bare for everyone to see, for himself to see when he looks in the mirror, red eyes and dead skin and fangs digging into his bottom lip.

Minhyun looks at him for a long time, his expression unreadable. "I was never angry at you," he says eventually. "I was never as angry at you as you were at yourself." Before Jonghyun can call bullshit, Minhyun sighs and cuts him off. "I won't deny I was in a bad place at one point, but I've come to accept it. I compromised. I drink donated or animal blood. I keep to a daytime human schedule. I got a roomba instead of a cat. I help people with my job, keep them from ending up like me." He laughs, a little self-deprecatingly. "It's not a bad life anymore."

 _It's not a life,_ Jonghyun wants to respond. But his throat is dry and unresponsive. Wood scrapes against his palms as he runs his hand over the stake still in his pocket.

"If I can learn to live with what I am, then perhaps you should try to as well. Instead of holding onto whatever guilt or blame you're carrying."

"You say that like it's easy," Jonghyun says hoarsely. He's tried before, but his mind always circles back to the same conclusion, the same burden of responsibility, of truth. His failure weighs heavily in his mind, and Jonghyun can't just forget that when he's reminded of it every day—whenever he looks at Minhyun.

"Then pretend. Just for this assignment." Vampires aren't supposed to look tired. Somehow Minhyun manages. His shoulders slump forward as he looks at Jonghyun pleadingly. "You can go back to beating yourself afterwards. I hope you don't, but I can't stop you either."

What he's saying makes sense. "Are you trying to call a truce?"

"Truce sounds appropriate." Minhyun extends a hand to shake on it. "I'm looking forward to working with you, partner."

The tightness in his chest takes on a different shade of painful. Minhyun looks unaffected by the word, and Jonghyun tries to match his expression as he takes his hand and pumps it once before pulling it away. Minhyun and Minki are both right; Jonghyun is the only one of all of them who hasn't moved on. Hasn't made an attempt to move on. With everything hanging on the line like this, maybe it’s the kick in the ass he needs in order to do so.

"So if we're good," Minhyun pauses and waits for Jonghyun to nod in agreement, "we should move onto practical matters, like how anyone is going to believe you're a feeder, much less mine." He finishes his pouch of blood and tosses it into the garbage, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

"I've thought about that that." Jonghyun finally relaxes enough to let go of the stake. He doesn't feel safe, not by a long shot, but—truce. He can work with that. "I need your blood first."

To his credit, Minhyun doesn't hesitate or question him. Jonghyun's odd requests were something he was used to when they worked together in the past, and he knows Jonghyun would never ask for something without reason.

With Jonghyun following behind, Minhyun grabs a clear vial from a rack on his counter and digs around his drawers for a knife. Rolling up his sleeve with one hand, he holds his arm steady above the sink and methodically slices his wrist open. Ink-black blood drips sluggishly down his arm and collects into the vial until it's full.

"Cap this for me, please," he says, handing it off to Jonghyun, who handles it cautiously and takes care not to let any of Minhyun’s blood touch him. He's never seen a vampire bleed before. Didn't even know it was possible for them to bleed. It's at a slower rate than a human, and darker, and smells like... death. Minhyun wipes his arm with a dish towel before bringing his wrist up and running his tongue over the cut to close it up. Vampire venom is good for many things and healing injuries is one of its better uses.

"What are you planning?" Minhyun finally asks, leaning against the counter. The open curiosity in his face transports Jonghyun back to the days when Minhyun used to watch him work his spells and make comments about what he was doing.

“I already have a ring that should make my magic undetectable to vampires,” he explains, pocketing the vial. “And I’m going to use your blood for an amulet that’ll make me smell like you to other vampires. Like… your property.” The word sits ashen on his tongue, and the mood between them grows dark.

“Ah.” Minhyun nods, looking guilty. “I can’t mark you, so that’s smart. It should be enough to keep most other vampires away.” The emphasis he puts on most worries Jonghyun; Minhyun doesn’t look entirely convinced. Tapping his fingers on the counter, he says, “But coven vampires are an entitled sort. And especially disrespectful towards feeders. You might run into a few who won’t stop there.”

He can’t say the thought hasn’t crossed his mind. Vampires don’t know boundaries. Jonghyun’s afraid someone pushing too far, but he can take care of himself. He might blow his cover, but he won’t let himself become vampire bait again. “I can take care of myself.”

“Can you?” Minhyun takes a step forward. “If a vampire corners you, what will you do?”

“Stake him.” Jonghyun’s answer is swift and immediate.

Minhyun laughs. “Do you know how to use a stake?”

Jonghyun takes the stake out of his pocket and holds it in front of him with both hands. The pointed end is inches from Minhyun’s chest, but he doesn’t look worried. “I can figure it out.”

“And what about when someone asks us to prove that we’re master and feeder?”

“You’ll convince them?” He winces as it comes out as a question and not a statement. “You will, though.”

Minhyun looks uncertain. “I could try, but—” Breaking off, he lapses into silence. “Do you trust me?” he asks.

“I—what?”

“Do you trust me?” Minhyun asks again. His gaze is uncomfortably hot and Jonghyun doesn’t know where to look. His arm shakes and lowers, the stake slipping from his gaze. “Do you trust me not to hurt you?”

Jonghyun swallows. “You don’t want me to answer that,” he says. Truce or not, he doesn’t trust Minhyun. He wants to, but Minhyun is a vampire. He’s not the same person he used to be, the one Jonghyun would trust at his six, no questions asked. All vampires have the same basic nature. Minhyun seems to have his under control, but Jonghyun doesn’t want to test that.

“Jonghyun, put the stake down,” Minhyun says, tone gentle. “You know me. I won’t harm you.”

“I don’t know you anymore.” Even so, he lowers the stake and allows Minhyun to step forward and put his hands on Jonghyun’s shoulders. He holds his breath instinctively, heart hammering in his chest in… anticipation? No, it can’t be. But his body reacts before his mind does, finding the position familiar. Minhyun’s red eyes drink his face in. “What… are you…”

Minhyun’s fingers are cold on his neck. He strokes Jonghyun’s skin, and Jonghyun knows he should push him away, but he melts into Minhyun’s touch instead. Minhyun opens his mouth and Jonghyun catches a glimpse of sharp, white fangs which effectively snap him out of his reverie. Panic sets in a moment later, but Minhyun has too strong of a grip on him. He flails, trying to twist away, but Minhyun is as quick as he is strong, barely giving Jonghyun a chance to cry out before he feels pricks and tenses for the pain—

But it never comes. Minhyun lets go of him and steps back. Sweat trails down Jonghyun’s back as he raises his arms again, keep the stake and an arm’s length between them. He opens his mouth wordlessly, then swallows and takes a step back, bumping again the robot vacuum cleaner.

“If I have to prove anything—I won’t go further than that. It should be good enough,” he says, sounding businesslike. “But next time, you can’t react like that or no one will believe I drink from you on a regular basis.”

Jonghyun’s heart is still beating wildly, threatening to burst out of his chest.He feels like he’s going to collapse any moment now. His face burns in shame and embarrassment and something else he doesn’t want to give name to, something he thought he buried a long time ago. “I thought you were going to bite me,” he says weakly. He finds his voice and tries again. “You were going to _bite_ me.”

“I was never—”

“You could have warned me.”

“You won’t get a warning in real life, Jonghyun.” Contrary to Minhyun’s words, his expression is apologetic. “There’s a line I refuse to cross. You don’t have to be afraid of me.” Standing here in the middle of Minhyun’s neat and ordinary apartment, Jonghyun can almost believe that. But he still feels the touch of Minhyun’s fingers on his neck, soft and scorching at the same time.

And then Minhyun blinks. Jonghyun’s stomach churns. He looks at the man he worked with, laughed with, the man he loved, and sees nothing beyond his red eyes, unnatural stillness, and pointed fangs. Some things just don’t go away when you want them to.

“I learned not to put any faith in vampires,” Jonghyun says finally. He traces the lines of old scars covering his neck and shakes his head. “I have every reason to be afraid.”

“Not of me,” Minhyun repeats with an edge of desperation to his voice. It’s almost a plea.

Jonghyun lowers his arms again and looks away. “You too,” he says quietly. “Especially you.” His heartbeat finally subsides and he takes another step back, groping around behind him for the door.

“I… I’m sorry.” He’s almost out of the apartment when Minhyun’s voice stops him in his tracks. “I overstepped. I just wanted to—” He sucks in a breath he doesn’t need. “I didn’t realize how much you…” He trails off, sounded defeated and tired. Jonghyun turns around so he doesn’t have to look at Minhyun’s face.

He doesn’t think he wants to hear this. Shoving the stake back into his pocket, he wrenches the door open and steps outside. “I—” Jonghyun chances a glance over his shoulder and winces. “I’m sorry too.” He doesn’t know what he’s apologizing for, but Minhyun responds with a nod and turns away.

Jonghyun stands there for a moment, hesitating, before closing the door behind him.

He can't get Minhyun out of his mind for the rest of the day.


	2. ii. second blood

_What manner of man is this, or what manner of creature is it in the semblance of a man?_  
— **Bram Stoker** , _Dracula_

✩

Moving day is deceptively calm and pleasant.

Jonghyun is not in a position to enjoy it. Bleary-eyed and exhausted, he fights to control his nerves during the drive up to the Efes Enclave and ends up losing. Sleep has been elusive for the past week; the anxiety of having to spend who knows how long in the vampire city kept Jonghyun awake leading up to this day, and now that he’s finally here, he feels… numb. It hasn’t fully sunk in yet. Still feels like a bad dream.

It takes him and Minhyun three hours to clear security in spite of Boa’s personal seal of approval on their papers. The guards are overly suspicious of outsiders—the whole enclave is in an emergency lockdown state due to the murders, but Jonghyun wonders if that does much when the culprit is likely already on the inside. Because of the hold up, it’s nearing noon by the time they finally succeed in making it in.

And he is suffocating. The turtleneck sweater he has on to hide the spells in his skin and the lack of a fresh puncture wound on his neck is a size too tight and itchy in general. Jonghyun’s dying to take it off, but he knows better than to do something so stupid once they’re in the enclave. He needs to be on high alert—enemies are everywhere and he only has himself to rely on.

Himself… and Minhyun, but Minhyun has been keeping his distance, feigning politeness whenever he’s forced to say something but remaining silent otherwise. Fair enough. Their last conversation didn’t end as well as either of them hoped for. Jonghyun tells himself it’s fine, but he can’t stop feeling guilty. Minhyun was trying to help and he overreacted and now he doesn’t know how to apologize. So he sticks to saying nothing. There’s enough to keep Jonghyun occupied anyway.

Like how _strange_ the enclave is. Everything is different in Efes. The walls rise thick and imposing, visible from every district within the city, giving people the illusion of being corralled in like cattle. Then there is the dome stretching above, hiding the sun and displaying an artificial night sky for the city’s nocturnal majority. It looks fake: the stars are too bright and twinkle following a regular pattern and the moon is too big to be natural.

The worst part is the vampires wandering the streets like they own them—which they do. Their feeders trail close behind, humans with hunched shoulders and drawn faces, their skin colored with bruises. Jonghyun observes and takes cues from them even as it leaves a bad taste in his mouth. The crescent shaped marks on his palms keep growing deeper every time he passes one of them.

Minhyun doesn’t have the same problem. He seems perfectly at ease within the enclave, striding confidently through the narrow streets while Jonghyun scrambles to catch up. Approaching his surroundings with a cold gaze, equal parts disdain and thinly veiled superiority, he looks like every vampire Jonghyun has ever met. He doesn’t look out of place, or like an actor playing a part. He looks at home.

That in itself is frightening. He wonders if Minhyun has spent time in one of these before. There’s a lot Jonghyun doesn’t know about the time immediately after Minhyun was… turned. Jonghyun never wanted to know, truthfully—he was afraid of what he might find. But he’s curious about it too, seeking answers for questions he didn’t have before.

Minhyun spent three years missing in action before returning to work at the bureau, and Kahi is the only person who knows about his whereabouts at that time. In the eyes of the rest of them, he was a ghost until he came into work on a Monday like nothing was wrong. His explanation was as simple as it was confusing. He told everyone that, as a newborn vampire, his flight response was too strong. Escaping from his creators, he ran to the bureau because it was the only place he remembered, and he ran from there because it was still too unfamiliar. He spent the following three years learning the ropes of his new life and came back once he had control of himself again.

Jonghyun stares at the back of his head as they wind through the narrow cobbled streets. _Where did you go? What did you do?_ He doesn’t buy that for a second. Nothing’s ever as neat and tidy as that. People speculate on it, but no one has the guts to ask and Minhyun never says more about it than he has to. Jonghyun’s intuition says there’s more. He knows Minhyun too well.

As they stop in front of the eight storey building that functions as temporary housing for new arrivals, Jonghyun pulls himself out of his thoughts. Minhyun looks down at the number on his key—609—and sighs. “Better get climbing.” The wry glance he throws over his shoulder melts into nothing as he makes eye contact with Jonghyun and quickly looks ahead.

Jonghyun has no right to feel hurt. Isn’t the distance between them exactly what he wanted? Yet the splinter in his heart digs deeper as they climb and reach their floor. He’s gasping for air while Minhyun is perfectly fine and Jonghyun wants to joke about fitness levels, but there’s a wall between them he doesn’t have the strength to climb. His own fault.

“Is—” Whatever he wants to say is cut short as Minhyun stiffens and clamps a hand over Jonghyun’s mouth. Muttering a quick apology almost too low for him to hear, Minhyun ushers Jonghyun behind so that he’s hidden between his partner’s back and the door. He soon understands why.

A blond man comes into view a few moments later. Or, a vampire, impossibly pale skinned and coldly beautiful in the way most of his kind are. His red eyes give Minhyun a cursory scan before widening. “You must be our new resident,” he says warmly, baring his teeth in a wide smile. “Welcome to Sharon Apartments. Not the finest establishment in Mugunghwa, but we get by.”

Jonghyun nearly responds to him on instinct until he remembers that the vampire wouldn’t be addressing him. He doesn’t even think the man acknowledged his presence. Thankfully, Minhyun is aware and a step ahead of him. He returns the greeting politely with a slight incline of the head. “I’m guessing you’ve heard about me, then. Lady Boa informed you?”

“She did, but I caught scent of you the moment you entered the building, my lord.” _My lord?_ Jonghyun’s brows furrow. “I haven’t met a vampire as old and powerful as yourself for a while.” The blond vampire addresses Minhyun with the highest level of formality and respect, inches away from prostrating himself.

But what he says doesn’t make any sense. Minhyun turned five years ago. He’s a newborn, a fledgling vampire who should be at the bottom of a coven’s social hierarchy. The blond vampire has to be mistaken; he’s neither ancient nor powerful. But vampires judge by scent, and how do you confuse that?

Jonghyun attempts to peek out from behind Minhyun’s back and catches a glimpse of the vampire’s feeder instead of the vampire himself. The feeder, like Jonghyun, his almost hidden behind his vampire master. He looks like a mousy man, dressed in baggy and unremarkable clothes. His face is extremely forgettable, but one thing stands out: the leather cord around his wrist and ending in the vampire’s hand. It is a leash, a physical tether from master to… slave.

He blanches. A small sound escapes unwittingly from his mouth and the vampire’s gaze shifts to him. “Is he your only feeder?” he asks curiously, red eyes boring into Jonghyun, who automatically lowers his head, trying to seem as subservient as he can. Stupid of him to—he should’ve expected to—he needs to control his own reactions better. The last thing he wants is to raise suspicion on their first day here. “Or are you having others sent here at a later date?”

“He’s the only one I brought with me,” Minhyun says. He sounds bored, as if discussing feeders is beneath him, but Jonghyun sees his hands curl into fists behind his back.

The blond vampire tears his gaze away from Jonghyun in surprise. “In that case, I would be more than happy to accompany you to the Night Market to purchase new feeders.” He hears a grin in the man’s voice. “This one is quite homey and you deserve a gem, my lord.”

“This one is to my taste.” Minhyun’s tone is chilling. “And he is well trained.” Out of the corner of his eye, Jonghyun sees Minhyun eye the leash with derision. The vampire retreats slightly, expression turning wary. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get inside.”

“Of course, of course. But, ah, Lady Boa says you’re expected at the main house with tribute after you are settled.”

Minhyun flinches. “Yes,” he says slowly. “I will be meeting with her after I drop off my things.”

Casting a final curious glance at Jonghyun, the vampire bows and leaves, tugging his feeder along with him. The feeder stumbles and Jonghyun catches a fleeting glimpse at a deadened expression before they’re gone. Holding his breath, he remains quiet until they’re inside their temporary apartment and Minhyun slams the door shut. The sound reverberates through the room.

Groaning, Minhyun presses his forehead to the metal. “Vampires are exhausting,” he mumbles, shoulders slumping in relief and tiredness.

Jonghyun snorts. He can’t argue with that, but… “You’re a—”

“I meant _those_.” Minhyun lifts his head and turns to him with distaste etched across his face. “Drunk on their own age and power and determined to flaunt it. The ones that walk around like they’re apex predators and everyone else is beneath them.”

Studying his nails, Jonghyun leans against a stack of boxes. He can sense the weapons inside, enough wood and silver to arm the whole building if he wanted too. Pulling out a paper charm from his pocket, he sticks it on the side and activates the spell to dampen the energy. “Aren’t you one of them?” he asks finally. Minhyun narrows his eyes in askance, and Jonghyun continues, “That blond vampire… he called you old and powerful. He was bowing to you.”

Jonghyun half expects Minhyun to tell him it was a misunderstanding, to laugh it off and say something scathing about the blond vampire’s mistake. But Minhyun just grows paler than he already is, eyes shaking as shock and surprise rocks through his body. He reminds Jonghyun of a cornered animal, hackles raised in defence.

He inches closer to the box of weapons and slips his hands inside, fingers wrapping around the hilt of a blessed silver dagger. Minhyun notices and smiles bitterly. Regaining his composure, he pulls out the box of tribute they’ll be giving to Boa from one of their bags and checks the contents. “It’s not important,” he says.

“Partners don’t keep secrets from each other.”

Minhyun laughs. It doesn’t reach his eyes. “We aren’t really those kind of partners anymore.”

He winces. “But we _do_ have a truce. We can’t—”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

Frustration leaks in Jonghyun’s voice “If this is about yesterday, then I deserve it. I shouldn’t have said a lot of things I did. But how am I supposed to trust you if you’re keeping important things from me?”

“You don’t trust me anyway,” Minhyun says, but sighs and slips the box into his pockets. “I… some things happened while I was gone.” A mixture of guilt and shame crosses over his face. Jonghyun’s exasperation morphs into worry. If there’s something wrong with Minhyun, he wants to know. He wants to help. Yes, things have changed between them, but instinct isn’t easy to shake.

“What things?”

“You’re not ready to hear it.” Minhyun closes his eyes and takes a seat on the arm of the couch. “I hate talking about it. I’m sorry, Jonghyun.” And he sounds genuinely regretful, but Jonghyun finds it hard to accept that Minhyun won’t talk to him.

When did they become people who couldn’t share things with each other? Maybe it’s stupid he even has to ask that question. He knows exactly when and why that happened. “I guess we’re just going to keep running away from things.” He’s speaking more to himself than Minhyun, but Minhyun catches it with his heightened hearing anyway.

“You of all people should not be judging me for running,” he says evenly. “You _perfected_ running.” When Jonghyun opens his mouth to protest, Minhyun adds quietly, but with heat, “You’re not exactly big on talking anymore either, Jonghyun. Years of silence and now you finally decide to speak to me because you’re forced and you think that entitles you to answers?”

Jonghyun swallows and retracts his hand. He walked into that. Everything Minhyun says is true. He’s the last person who should be asking anything of Minhyun. “I thought you didn’t want to talk to me. I was trying to be considerate.”

“I wanted to talk to you; I just thought you hated being around me.” Jonghyun shakes his head, but Minhyun keeps talking in a rush, like he doesn’t want to go there but can’t stop himself. “I heard you tell Kahi once that you wished I’d died instead of crawling back like this. So I tried to stay out of your way so you...” He lowers his eyes. “So you could pretend.”

He reels back as if he’s been slapped. Minki always speculated that Minhyun stayed away for Jonghyun’s sake, but Jonghyun never wanted to hear it. It was easier to think that Minhyun blamed him and resented him for letting him down. Harder to stomach that Jonghyun was the asshole who hurt Minhyun without knowing, who pushed him away. Even if it was something he said in distress, terrified and so fucking angry about what happened to them.

“I have no excuse,” Jonghyun says finally. He runs a hand through his hair and avoids looking at Minhyun, pissed at himself. “But I—I thought you wanted that too. You said you never wanted an undeath. You never wanted to linger past your time.”

“I didn’t,” Minhyun admits, laughing sardonically. “I tried to end it myself a couple of times, but vampires don’t die that easily. I took it as a sign that I shouldn’t take this way out.” He stands and makes for the door, the muscles in his body tense. “And I’m glad I didn’t give up because here I am with a chance to do something important.”

Jonghyun doesn’t know what else to say. Swallowing, he studies his hands and shoves them in his pockets. Who is he to comment on what Minhyun should find important and not?

“If I did we wouldn’t be here together either,” Minhyun adds under his breath.

And that is a conversation Jonghyun doesn’t want to have in the middle of a deadly vampire city. _Together_. He doesn’t want to address the hope in Minhyun’s voice or have to promise that things between them can get better because he has no idea. But if Minhyun had died through whatever means, he wouldn’t be standing in front of Jonghyun right now, and the thought of that hurts. So maybe he just doesn’t know what to say at the end of the day.

Minhyun’s right; he perfected running.

“Let’s not have this conversation now,” Minhyun says finally. He can probably tell what Jonghyun is thinking. He always had a sixth sense for that. “We have to meet with Boa and I hear she doesn’t like waiting.”

He takes the out offered. “You would think an immortal creature would have more patience,” Jonghyun says and is rewarded with the sound of Minhyun’s laughter, a little less fake-sounding than before but still hesitant. Patting Jonghyun lightly on the back, he heads outside.

Jonghyun follows and tries not to think too much about things. _Not the time or place_ , he reminds himself. But he knows they’re going to have to talk seriously at some point. He doesn’t think they can go back to silence after this, and neither does he want to.

 

* * *

 

_He and Minhyun spend the afternoon investigating the haunting complaint. After speaking to the woman who filed it, Minhyun schedules a gut for the day after to give himself time to prepare for the ritual. Jonghyun defaults to his judgement. Minhyun is the one with the experience and skill set to handle cases like these. Jonghyun’s just there as back up for him._

_“The brawn to my brains,” Minhyun says dryly. They stop by the office after the meeting to grab some files and the ritual items Minhyun keeps stored in lock up. The office is empty save for a few of the usual workaholics at their desks—Nayoung filing reports and Jihoon and Soonyoung probably plotting a coup over in the corner. “If you’re the brawn, shouldn’t you look more like Dongho? Or Seungcheol at least?”_

_“I thought you liked me for my body.”_

_“I said I liked your smile,” Minhyun responds. “Never said anything about your body.” While Jonghyun pretends to be offended, Minhyun spends a couple of minutes rifling through the stacks of paper on his desk before pulling out a green file with a flourish. “Got the ritual instructions. I’m pretty rusty with this stuff, so thank God for Sujin’s obsessive need to document everything.”_

_Jonghyun chuckles. “Must be a genetic thing.” He’s only met Minhyun’s older sister a few times, but the two of them have a lot in common, even if Minhyun doesn’t like to admit it. His family is a touchy subject; Jonghyun doesn’t bring it up unless Minhyun says something first. “Do you have any idea who’s haunting Mrs. Lee, by the way?” he asked, referring to the woman they’re supposed to be helping._

_The smile slips off Minhyun’s face. “Her husband. They were married for fifty years.” He tucks the file under his arm and sighs, wearing the familiar worried expression he has every time they deal with ghosts. “I think… he loved her a lot and decided to wait for her to join him before moving on, but humans aren’t meant to stay on his plane after we’re dead, you know?” His voice trembles. “At some point, that love turned into anger and now he’s just… a furious, mindless entity that wants to hurt her.”_

_“That’s… horrible.” And heart-breaking. Jonghyun can’t imagine reaching a point where your love for someone means nothing anymore. He wants to believe some things will endure, but that doesn’t sound encouraging._

_Minhyun falls into a pensive silence. When he finally breaks it, he sounds tired. “I… don’t ever want to stick around or linger like that,” he says “If I’m gone, I’m gone. I don’t want to be around past my time and cause pain to the people I love. I don’t want anything beyond death.”_

_He gets it, but that are always options too. Humans are forever looking to cheat death. “What if our resident necromancer brought you back?” Jonghyun asks and Minhyun scoffs._

_“Minki? Being a zombie isn’t better than being an angry ghost. Or being a vampire.” He stops and vigorously shakes his head. “It’s not worth it. That kind of life is nothing.”_

_Jonghyun doesn’t say anything. He agrees—mostly, though he thinks if the option was death or a mimicry of life with the chance to stay with Minhyun, he would be tempted._

_Minhyun sees the conflict in his eyes and laughs to diffuse the tension. “It’s a hypothetical anyway. I’m not planning on dying on you anytime soon.” He checks his watch and hurries towards the door. “Shoot. Let me grab my stuff before the watchman locks up,”_

_“I’ll wait here. Clean up a little bit.” Jonghyun’s own desk is beyond saving, so he straightens the papers on Minhyun’s desk instead. Not much is out of place except for the pile of mail in the corner. Jonghyun flips through a couple of them idly (bills, magazine subscriptions, a birthday card) before handing on an envelope with no postage stamp or return address._

_Frowning, he rips it open. A letter falls out written in bright red ink. The few characters in it are messy, as if someone was writing in a great rush or while swept up in a lot of emotion. With a sinking feeling, Jonghyun thinks it might be the latter. The author’s anger and hatred leaps off the page._

> **HWANG —**  
>  You took everything from me and my family. You destroyed us.  
>  Now I will take everything you love and slowly tear it to pieces while you watch in horror.  
>  Starting with your beloved son, Minhyun.

_“Back!”_

_Jonghyun shoves the letter back in the envelope and shoves it in his pockets. “Got everything?” he asks in what he hopes is his normal voice. It doesn’t shake. He’ll count that as a victory._

_Through his armful of bags, Minhyun nods. “Yeah, I’m good to go.” He doesn’t seem to notice anything amiss as he leads the way out and keeps up a steady stream of conversation. Jonghyun finds it hard to respond, hard to hear anything past the pounding in his ears, but he does his best to fake it._

_The threatening letter burns a hole in his pocket on the way home._

* * *

 

Boa’s home, the functional Mugunghwa headquarters, lies at the centre of Efes: an imposing brick structure with sprawling grounds maintained to perfection. The coven’s eponymous flowers dominate the gardens, though Jonghyun doesn’t get the chance to stop and admire them, pressed for time as they are.

While the place is no less impressive inside, it’s emptier than Jonghyun expected it to be. He can only sense the presence of a handful of vampires around. Most go out of their way to avoid him—or Minhyun, rather. With the cloud of death hanging over the coven, he can’t blame its members for their caution.

He and Minhyun are escorted to Boa’s office by blank-faced humans instead. Their odd pallor and lifeless eyes mark them as thralls, the mindless servants to the master of the house. From what he’s read, in order to control them completely, vampires feed their thralls small controlled doses of vampire blood, giving them prolonged life. Few are then turned into vampires if their masters feel like they deserve it, and some waste their entire lives in pursuit of that goal.

Jonghyun doesn’t know who he pities more: feeders, or them.

The thralls shut the heavy doors behind them as they leave, abandoning them to Kwon Boa, leader of the Mugunghwa coven and ruler of the Efes Enclave. All of Jonghyun senses are on high alert as they approach the desk and the woman sitting behind it in a red-backed chair. She looks diminutive and soft faced, but when she looks up, the power in her gaze knocks Jonghyun back a few steps.

Minhyun stands his ground and sweeps into a low bow. He doesn’t seem all that impressed by her, or if he is he does a good job of hiding it.

She studies them first, eyes sweeping over Minhyun, then Jonghyun in a cool assessment. Minutes pass before she finally sees fit to address them. “Here you are.” Folding her hands on top of the desk, she studies them with an inscrutable expression. “The BSA’s investigators. I was waiting for you two to show.”

Minhyun clears his throat and takes the lead. “We probably would’ve been here sooner if security wasn’t so hard on us,” he says, fighting to keep the frown out of his voice.

“My apologies,” she says with not an ounce of regret in her voice. Gesturing for them to take a seat across from her, she reclines in her chair and purses her lips. “Did you bring any tribute?”  
  
Minhyun grimaces, but takes out an ornate velvet covered box from his pocket and sets it down in front of her. “I think it’s odd to request tribute from us when you’re the one who needs our help.” He trades a look of exasperation with Jonghyun before adding, “Though from what I heard, it was more of a demand.”

“It was, but this is tradition.” The corners of her mouth curve up. “Have you never joined a coven before, Hwang Minhyun?”

It takes Minhyun a moment to recover from his shock. “Not officially,” he says.

His answer surprises Jonghyun. With it comes relief as well. Joining a coven seems like the point of no return for most vampires, the point where they fully embrace the night and turn back on their former lives. Jonghyun doesn’t want to lose Minhyun so completely, but part of him also wonders what’s holding him back.

Boa nods in acknowledgement and reaches for the box. “What is this?”

“It’s an amulet,” Minhyun explains as she opens it. “For protection. We felt it was fitting with everything going on.” Jonghyun watches silently as she turns it over in her hands before putting it on. “Don’t ask me how it works, though,” Minhyun continues. “It’s out of my area of expertise.” He throws Jonghyun a questioning glance but refrains from saying anything more when Jonghyun shakes his head.

“Thank you.” Boa runs her thumb over the green jewel inlaid into the amulet. “I don’t lack for protection, but I won’t turn down a generous gift like this either. Give Kahi my thanks as well.”

It’s not Kahi she should thank, but Jonghyun doesn’t want a vampire’s gratitude either. It makes him uncomfortable. Everything about her does, from the office to her genial expression to the way she looks at the both of them, as if she’s trying to solve a puzzle. “So,” Jonghyun begins, tired of remaining quiet and wanting to say something, “Should we discuss the case? What exactly happened?”

He keeps his tone respectful, but Boa still looks a little surprised to see a human addressing her so directly. He’s seen the humans around this mansion; most of them have probably never spoken to her, period. She glances at Minhyun in askance, who just throws his arms up and reclines in his chair. “Jonghyun is the senior agent here,” he says, neglecting to mention it’s just by a month. “He takes the lead in our cases.”

 _Our cases._ Sounds nice to hear again. Even if it’s only temporarily.

Thankfully, Boa doesn’t comment further. “Kahi surely shared the basics with you, and I’m sure you looked through the files I sent over, but to put it bluntly, a number of prominent vampires from this coven have been found dead in their homes.” She pauses, stricken, as if this is hard for her to talk about. “It began with Seokhoon, then Woodam a few weeks later, then more. We’ve lost nearly fourteen of our people thus far.”

“Fourteen vampires dead and you haven’t caught whoever is behind it yet?” Minhyun sounds incredulous. It does seem hard to believe that the most powerful coven in Korea can’t do anything about this problem.

“Do you have any suspects?” Jonghyun asks. “Like a rival coven, maybe? Mugunghwa’s problems with the Kkamagwi are well documented.”

“I have had a few of my people investigate, but the every time a new body appears, my circle of trusted associates grows smaller.” Boa sounds genuinely troubled, if not upset. “If it were a rival coven, they would have tried to take advantage of the fear and unrest to snatch some territory from us. At the very least, they would have made demands, but intelligence tells us they remain in the dark about our…” She pauses in distaste. “ _Problems_.”

Jonghyun isn’t convinced. “But that isn’t enough to say it can’t be them.”

“Mr. Kim,” Boa says. She seems to know his full name just like Minhyun’s and Jonghyun doesn’t want to ask why. He gaze is piercing, uncanny, and he doesn’t like it. “I am certain it’s coming from within. I don’t _want_ to doubt my family, but you must understand something.”

Slamming her hands down on the desk, she stands and leans forward. “All the vampires killed were a part of the same lineage.” Beside him, Minhyun makes a startled noise. “What I mean is, they could all trace their bloodline back to the same sire. Records of lineages are a secret kept by the coven. No outsider could have accessed those records, but any one of us could.”

“Then infighting?” He’ll have to check up on how tightly the records are sealed. “Blood feuds? Who had a problem with Seokhoon and his... lineage in this coven?”

Boa lets out a dry laugh. “Seokhoon’s biggest enemy was killed four weeks after he was.” Her voice fades as she looks at a spot behind Jonghyun’s head. He doesn’t really believe half the shit vampires try to feed him, but looking at Boa, it’s easy to take her at face value, to accept that she does care about her coven and these murders. She called them her family. He always assumed covens existed to consolidate power, but maybe there’s more to it. “His lineage didn’t have many enemies.”

“Everyone has enemies,” Jonghyun says darkly.

“We’ll find them,” Minhyun says. He sounds serious as he mulls over the information Boa just gave them. Not a lot of it is new, but it’s easier to put things into perspective now. “Do you want us to make an arrest when we do?”

“I have a different kind of justice planned for them,” Boa replies. Her eyes flash, bloodlust crawling across her features. For a brief moment, Jonghyun catches a glimpse of the monster he knows she can be underneath the pretty face. Traces of it still linger as she adds, “My files and records are open to you, if you wish to look through them. My associates were not able to gather much before I put a stop to the investigation, but if it can help…”

Minhyun stands. “Thank you. It might be a good place to start.”

Jonghyun barely gets to his feet before a thrall appears at the door, ready to guide them to Boa’s private library. His appearance is a clear dismissal; Boa turns away and begins flipping through a file. Minhyun hesitates, then bows in her direction before following the thrall out, but Jonghyun trails behind.

“What are you planning to do with the culprit?” he asks. As much as he doesn’t want to know, he also feels like it’s his responsibility—if he’s going to hand the criminal over to Boa, he should know what she’s going to do with them.

“It’s none of your concern, Mr. Kim.” Boa doesn’t look at him. “I get the impression you don’t care for us.”

“I don’t.”

“Do you care about your partner, Minhyun?”

He bites his lip. “Why are you asking me this?”

“Curiosity.” Boa turns and meets his eyes. “Rest assured, I will be fair. Vampires take care of their own here.” When Jonghyun doesn’t move, she waves him away. “Dismissed, Mr. Kim.”

He hesitates for a minute before following Minhyun and the thrall out of the room. Something about Boa’s statement makes him nervous—but it’s like she said. It’s none of his concern.

 

* * *

 

Boa allows them to set up camp in her private library tucked away near the back of the house. Boxes of files greet them as they enter the room. Minhyun ignores them and gravitates towards the bookshelves first, running his fingers down the spines of old texts with barely concealed awe. On the other hand, Jonghyun doesn’t find dusty old tomes all that interesting. He draws up a chair by the window and grabs the first stack of files to go through.

“So, are you planning to help?" Jonghyun asks, opening the first file. Most of it has been thoroughly marked up: suspects are crossed off, diagrams have been scribbled over, oral testimonies are lined in red, and he struggles to read the notes filling up the margins. Whoever was looking into these murders before the them was definitely dedicated. It’ll take ages to go through these.

“Or I could spend my afternoon reading though the original copy of the Myth of the Thirteen Boa has on her shelf.” Minhyun slides a fragile looking book off the shelf and weighs it in his hands. “Never mind, I’m afraid it’s going to fall apart.” He slides it back with a wince.

“Sometime in this century would be nice. You might live forever, but I won’t.”

“Not funny,” Minhyun scowls, but he does sit down across from Jonghyun with a stack of papers of his own. “Vampires don’t live forever—at some point, I’ll settle down for the Eternal Sleep.” He moves through his papers at a faster pace than Jonghyun does (vampire speed reading would’ve been great in school, Jonghyun thinks wryly), but his face grows darker with each page he discards. “A lot of this is useless, but it saves us time from having to follow up on bogus leads.”

Jonghyun can understand some of the frustration. Despite the wealth of details here, nothing seems to be coming together. Flipping through the files becomes rhythmic; he falls in time with Minhyun jiggling his leg underneath the table. It’s quiet, familiar, and comfortable—how many days have they spent together like this in the past, sloughing through files and reports in companionable silence. The only difference between then and now is that Jonghyun can’t hear the sound of his breathing.

The unnatural silence is starting to get to him. In his discomfort, his eyes start to glaze over and he almost misses something scrawled in the corner of a copy of Seokhoon’s estate. “Jewel of Qayin,” he reads out loud. “What is the Jewel of Qayin?”

“The jewel of what?” Minhyun leans over to look at Jonghyun’s page, their faces almost touching. “Jewel of… oh, there it is. It’s listed under personal effects.” Tapping his chin with his fingers, he muses out loud. “Must have belong to Seokhoon, but he didn’t pass it down to anyone. Do you think it has anything to do with the deaths?”

Jonghyun tries to read the characters squeezed underneath the jewel’s name. “Seems like it vanished after his death, or someone took advantage of the chaos to steal it.” It doesn’t seem to be connected to the rest of the deaths, but Jonghyun files it away for future reference. What concerns him more is how close Minhyun’s face is to his. Jonghyun finds it difficult to focus, let alone breathe, and wants to sink into the floor in embarrassment at the thought that Minhyun can hear. “By the way, you’re pretty close.”

“Oh.” Minhyun moves away and rubs the back of his neck. “Force of habit. Sorry.”

Force of habit, right. When they used to work together in the past, Minhyun had a habit of resting his head or his chin on Jonghyun’s shoulder to read over reports and documents. Half the time, he’d see all the different ways he could distract him by blowing on his neck or nibbling on his ears or trailing kissing along his jaw. It was… annoying. _Difficult_ for Jonghyun to focus. He doesn’t know why he’s remembering it now; there’s no point to it.

But working with Minhyun, being around him so much, brings old and buried memories to the surface, and with them emotions Jonghyun didn’t think he was capable of feeling again. And it worries him because this isn’t the same Minhyun—he doesn’t want to lose sight of that.

They fall silent after the small discovery until Minhyun opens another file and scowls. “The killing methods are pretty varied,” he says. “Looks like the culprit went through just about all of them: decapitation, immolation, stake through the heart, and hell, carving the heart out.” He pushes the file away, looking sick. “It’s tough to do just one of these things, let alone all, and to fourteen vampires.”

“You’re right.” Killing one is difficult enough. He doesn’t think a single person can be doing all of this, but that’s more troubling. Trying to catch a group is always harder. “Could it be a hunter? Or hunters? Hired muscle by someone else in the coven?”

“Hunters are still human at the end of the day. _Trained_ ones, but still. I don’t think any of them would agree to work for a vampire.” Minhyun slides a piece of paper over to Jonghyun. “Besides, staked deaths are only five in total, see? And those are hunters’ preferred method of killing vampires. Not to mention they tend to kill indiscriminately.”

He has a point. That only means… “You’re saying it’s another vampire—or vampires—doing the killing.” Jonghyun was on the right track in the beginning, then. _Bloodsuckers killing their own._

“Probably.” Minhyun flips through another file. “Look at the number of vampires decapitated. That’s hard to do, and we have three of them. Would’ve been easier for another vampire, but impossible for anyone else.” He shrugs and leans back in his chair. “This city belongs to vampires. I think Boa’s right, it’s someone within the clan with access to records and weapons. But we’re not usually violent towards each other, so whatever grudge they have has to be serious.”

“Hm.” Jonghyun’s been thinking too much about other possible culprits, suspecting everyone from thralls and feeders to outside hunters, but sometimes the most obvious answer is the likely answer. But why Seokhoon and his lineage in particular, and what are the killers gaining from this? Jonghyun can think of plenty of reasons why he would want vampires gone, but why would anyone attack their own ‘family’ members? Power? Wealth? Blood?

Motive is going to be tough to find, Jonghyun thinks. He doesn’t realize he says it out loud until Minhyun nods. “I agree. We need a chance to get out there and start talking to people. But—” He breaks off abruptly and freezes. “Someone’s coming,” he says, slowly turning to stare at the door.

“Here?” Jonghyun thought this was supposed to be private. “How do we—” He scrambles to stand and pushes the files away. Humans aren’t considered people here, much less people who should be rifling through private coven files in the coven leader’s personal library. There’s no point in hiding either; if the person is a vampire, they’ll be able to smell Jonghyun no matter where he stuffs himself.

Minhyun gestures for him to come closer. “I might have to do something you won’t like,” he mutters. Jonghyun comes to a stop in front of him and Minhyun backs him up against one of the bookshelves by the door. The uneven books dig into his spine as he goes along with it, too frazzled to protest.

Suspended in time for a moment, Jonghyun forces himself to calm down. It’ll be alright, he tells himself. It’ll be alright because Minhyun is charming and quick on his feet and—

Minhyun’s hand touches his collar, then pulls away. “I—” he begins, swallowing thickly. “Can I—?”

And Jonghyun knows what he’s seeking permission for. It takes a tremendous amount of effort to keep his body from seizing up. _You’re supposed to be used to this_ , he tells himself. _You’re—for now—you’re a feeder._ It’s not that easy. He remembers Minhyun holding him in place, his gentle touch, small thrill of anticipation that shot up his spine underneath the terror, his shameful secret—but imposed upon it is the horrifying memory of pain, like he was being burned alive, like he was being sucked dry, like he—

Jonghyun doesn’t have a choice, however. He nods. “Do it.” If his voice comes as more of a choked cry, Minhyun doesn’t comment. Squeezing his eyes shut, Jonghyun clings onto one hope: if Minhyun didn’t bite him earlier, he won’t do it now either.

Rolling his collar down, Minhyun tips his head back and runs a thumb over a spot on Jonghyun’s neck that is free from scars. He’s purposefully trying to be as gentle and respectful as he can, but every brush of skin-on-skin makes Jonghyun’s knees turn weak. Minhyun’s fingers aren’t cold this time; they’re almost human in their warmth as they hold him steady.

With agonizing slowness, Minhyun opens his mouth. This time, Jonghyun avoids looking at his fangs and focuses instead on maintaining his composure as Minhyun brings them to his neck, teeth scraping painfully against his skin but not breaking through yet. His body tenses slightly despite his best efforts, anticipating the sting and the rush of endorphins that follow when—

The door opens and a female thrall steps inside. She doesn’t even hesitate before announcing the presence of a _Lord Hoeseung_. Minhyun remains rooted in position until the vampire in question actually enters the room and lets out a pointed cough.

Movements languid, Minhyun pulls himself off Jonghyun and runs his tongue over his fangs before arranging his features into a polite smile. “Oh, hello,” he says, sounding faintly embarrassed. “Lord Hoeseung, I assume?”

The vampire smiles warmly. “You must be Lord Minhyun, the newest member of the family.” As expected, he doesn’t acknowledge Jonghyun, who puts a hand on his neck to hide the non-existent puncture wound and tries to make himself look as small as possible. Blend into the bookshelves. “I didn’t mean to interrupt you.”

“I should’ve been more careful. Lady Boa gave me permission to persure her library and I… fell victim to thirst instead of appreciating it.” Minhyun shrugs in a rueful, what-can-you-do way and crosses his arms over his chest.

“We have feeding rooms in the house—any thrall will be happy to show you to one in the future, if you wish.” Once Minhyun murmurs out a quick thank you, the vampire—Hoeseung—continues. “There’s a party organized here for tonight in honor of you joining the clan. Boa asked me to take care of your needs before then.” He pauses, his eyes shifting over to Jonghyun. But there is no judgement in them, no feelings at all beyond what one might think looking at a decorative plant. “Will your feeder be accompanying you tonight or should I arrange for a temporary one?”

“I—” Minhyun hesitates and lapses into silence. A minute passes with Hoeseung waiting patiently before he answers, “Arrange one for me, please. This one will not be in any shape to attend after I feed.” He speaks authoritatively, like he’s used to giving orders, and Hoeseung naturally falls in line.

“Understood. Please let one of the thralls know if you chose return to your apartment before the party. I’ll send a car to pick you up.” With a shallow bow in Minhyun’s direction, Hoeseung retreats out of the room. The thrall follows almost as an afterthought, closing the door behind her.

Jonghyun dares not move until the footsteps fade into nothingness, then silently counts to a few more minutes before letting out a sigh of relief. Minhyun sags against the door and lets out a matching sound at the same time.

His hand in still gripping his neck. Feeling oddly exposed, Jonghyun lowers it and rolls his collar back up. “Sorry,” Minhyun says, watching him carefully. “I didn’t want to, but Hoeseung didn’t seem suspicious.”

“I get it.” He does, even though he feels odd, like not quite himself. It was a good distraction; people usually only see what they want to see. Hoeseung saw a thirsty vampire and his feeder, not the stacks of files in the back or the absence of the smell of blood in the air. The important thing here is that it worked and Jonghyun survived it. Unlike last time, he controlled his reaction and made it through, and nothing bad happened.

He’s proud of himself, though he owes some credit to Minhyun too.

Rubbing his arms, he heads back to their workspace. Minhyun follows three steps behind. “I honestly didn’t—”

“Minhyun, it’s fine. You had to.” As an afterthought, he adds, “You didn’t hurt me.” Jonghyun still feels the ghost of Minhyun’s fangs on his neck, but it doesn’t cripple him with fear. He would never call a sensation like that pleasant, but he retreats into the not-as-horrible parts of the ruse: the caress, the warmth pressing into his skin, the heat coiling in his belly—

Or maybe thinking about that is a bad idea too. He forces himself _not_ to think.

Minhyun gives Jonghyun a grateful smile before changing the subject. “I guess this party is my in,” he says, sounding a little less shaken. “I can rub shoulders with the vampires of the clan, try to sniff out a motive for killing Seokhoon and his bloodline among the people there tonight.”

It is a good opportunity. Boa must’ve arranged it for this purpose. “Why didn’t you let me come?” Jonghyun asks. He couldn’t protest before, but he doesn’t like the idea of missing out on such an important part of their investigation. Granted, Minhyun has always been better with people than he has. Though while Minhyun is schmoozing, he can observe and catch things Minhyun might miss. It’s how they always used to work, as a team, covering for each other’s flaws. “I thought the whole reason I came here as your feeder was so I had access into events like this without raising suspicions?”

Minhyun starts gathering up the files they’re done with and puts them back in their boxes. Even far from home, he puts his everything into cleaning up the mess they made. That, or he’s trying to avoid an awkward conversation. “You don't want to be at one of these parties, Jonghyun.”

“Why not?”

“It’s not safe.” He shakes his head. “I can’t subject you to that. Not when you’re…”

“When I’m what?”

“Afraid. Of us. Of me. You’re already afraid and I’m not going to make it worse.”

“How bad can one party be?” He doesn’t want Minhyun to go there alone. They’re partners.

Minhyun struggles for the right way to describe it. “These are vampiric bacchanals, Jonghyun. It's a fucking massive blood drinking orgy. Any feeder present is free for the taking by any vampire.”

Jonghyun clamps his mouth shut. He fears he might retch if he doesn’t. A blood drinking orgy sounds like a thing vampires would do. Of course. Just when he thought things might not be as bad… just when he thought that he could possibly be taking a step forward with his fear of vampires, he finds out that this is a reality. Minhyun sighs at his expression, and Jonghyun’s mind recoils at the thought of Minhyun amongst such violence and carnage. He doesn’t belong there with them in that kind of world. It doesn’t work. He belongs with… he belongs here with…

Forcing himself to look into his partner’s red eyes, Jonghyun reminds himself that Minhyun has a lot more in common with them than he does with Jonghyun these days. He can’t afford to let himself get confused. “And you’re still going.”

“For the investigation.” Minhyun looks exhausted for some reason. Gaunt and nearly stretched thin. He doesn’t really seem to be relishing the idea of attending, or Jonghyun wants to believe he’s not. “I can’t waste this opportunity.”

Jonghyun has no right to say no. And yet—”The old Minhyun wouldn’t have done this.” He hates the idea of Minhyun with monsters, becoming one of them. Before, he would’ve said that Minhyun was one of them already, but after spending time with him, he’s not so sure. Minhyun looks like a bloodsucker, no doubt, but he’s more than that. Or maybe Jonghyun wants him to be more than that.

Minhyun laughs bitterly. “The old Minhyun wouldn’t have done a lot of things I’ve had to do to survive.” He really looks bad, Jonghyun notes. Paler than normal, his veins sticking out. There’s bruising underneath his eyes. He should not be looking like that considering he fed this morning. “We were given this case to solve and that’s what I care about right now. I don’t have time to indulge my conscience.”

“What about your humanity?”

“That’s the thing, isn’t it?” Minhyun spares Jonghyun a quick look. “I’m not human. You felt it too today.” Gathering up the last of the files they do want to keep, he holds them out to Jonghyun. “I think I’ll stick around here till the party and do some recon.” Jonghyun wordlessly takes the files from him. He feels like he crossed some kind of line, but the apology sticks in his mouth. “You should go back to the apartment, see if you can find anything in these files.”

“Okay.” He tries not to take it personally.

“Or if you want, you could head down to the Night Market while I’m here. You might find something interesting there.”

“ _Okay_ ,” Jonghyun repeats. Minhyun looks at him like he wants to say something else, then presses his lips together and shakes his head. Jonghyun doesn’t push either; he feels like anything he says right now will come out wrong. Instead, he follows a thrall out of the house and all the way back to Sharon Apartments in a daze, failing to stop himself from obsessing over Minyun.

I’m not human, he said. Jonghyun wonders if that’s really true. He wonders if the Minhyun he loved is really dead. Because he thinks he catches glimpses of him sometimes and—

He’s a fool to hope.


	3. iii. third blood

_The stream of life is black and angry; how so many of us get across without drowning, I often wonder. The best way is not to look too far before-just from one stepping-stone to another._  
— **J. Sheridan Le Fanu** , _Uncle Silas_

✩

Setting out on his down doesn’t sound like a smart idea, but Minhyun’s suggestion of heading to the Night Market is tempting. Jonghyun has had enough of files for one day and he knows if he stays inside he’ll just keep obsessing over things he has no control over. After talking himself into it, Jonghyun affixes the badge that marks him as a Mugunghwa vampire’s feeder to his chest and sets out. The talisman that covers him in Minhyun’s scent, marking him as his property, rests warm against his chest as another precaution should he run into any vampires.

Finding the market is a matter of following the crowd. There are fewer vampires out, mostly the young, judging from their jumpy countenance and lack of feeders following them around. Jonghyun sees plenty of thralls though, probably running errands for their vampiric masters, and many feeders like himself, badge shining proudly on their chests.

He finds that strange; Jonghyun assumed coven feeders had limited freedoms. He expected most of them to live like the blond haired vampire’s poor feeder—on a leash and tightly controlled like a pet. Though he supposes it makes sense: loyal ones can be trusted to roam on their own. And each vampire master treats their food differently. Some are even… as _kind_ as sadistic blood sucking creatures can be.

Vampires have to rely on feeders to survive—it’s more convenient and stable than having to hunt down humans periodically and drain them dry. The BSA and the government find it easier to turn a blind eye to the system as well, despite the illegality of keeping humans as food. Jonghyun doesn’t agree with they way vampires abuse the bureau’s leniency regarding this, but he’s powerless to do anything about it.

 _Speak of the devil._ Following the flow of the crowd, he finds himself at the auction block. Jonghyun makes an attempt to push past them, but the crush of bodies block all exits, trapping him here as the auctioneer ushers another feeder to the front.

A skinny human male, maybe in his twenties, dressed in torn gray rags and glancing around the area with wide, terrified eyes. The auctioneer makes a pitch and starts the bidding, and soon enough, the area is overtaken by shouts of vampires and thralls trying to outbid their neighbours for the man. He is eventually sold to a black haired man with a cruel smile. Jonghyun feels sick as the vampire leads his new purchase away.

But he couldn’t stop the purchase even if he wasn’t undercover—as part of the BSA, he has absolutely no jurisdiction here. Enclaves govern themselves. Dejected, he tries to leave again with more success this time. Jostling his way out of the crowd, he almost runs into someone familiar. It takes him a few moments to recognize the man. Something about his face is slippery… elusive…

 _“You.”_ The word slips from his mouth before he can control himself. It’s the blond vampire’s feeder. Up close, he still looks mousy, tired, just one of the many in the enclave, but there’s an unexpected glint of something in his eyes. Jonghyun doesn’t know what to call it.

“Lord Minhyun’s feeder?” he says, perplexed. Someone shoves Jonghyun forward, but the feeder manages to catch and steady him before he can hit the ground. “You’ve been freed for the evening?” Once he’s sure Jonghyun is solidly on his feet again, he lets go and wipes his palms on his shirt.

“Uh, yes.” The sudden question takes him aback. “He thought I might get some use out of exploring the Market. He’s at the party up in the main house himself.” Jonghyun assumes most vampires are, including this man’s master. He can’t see any tether connecting him to anyone else.

“I see.” The feeder studies him for a while, seemingly grappling with something. He eventually comes to a decision and nods. “I would like to show you something. Come with me.” He gestures for Jonghyun to follow him and has no time to protest before the feeder takes off, leading him through winding streets and tight alleys headed away from the crowd and into the emptier districts of the enclave.

They finally emerge into a crowded area, a clutter of stalls and lean-tos filled to bursting. Trash lies all around, piled into heaps, but the people pay it no attention. It isn’t till one pile moves that Jonghyun realizes some of these are people… humans, by the looks of it. Everyone here looks human, he notes. Some have the Mugunghwa crest affixed to their clothes while others don’t. A few, like him, look uncomfortable or cautious while others flit around as if they’re used to the place.

Jonghyun frowns. Is this some kind of a hidden community? A ghetto for humans unknown to the vampires here? He turns to the feeder in confusion, and the man smiles—or an expression similar to it. “Welcome to our hideaway,” he says, patting the wall beside him. “We gather here often… whenever we are able.”

“We?” Jonghyun echoes.

“Humans.”

Not just feeders but all humans. No thralls though, from what Jonghyun can see. He does a slow spin in place, taking in the sights. “Why did you want to show this to me?” he asks, before remembering he’s part of this community now, a feeder forced to survive within the walls of the enclave. For him, this is a temporary thing, but no one else knows that.

“I bring all of us here,” the feeder responds. “To show the newcomers that they’re not alone… that even in a place like this, they can belong to a community of people who care about them.”

“That’s… reassuring. The last place I lived in didn’t have anything like this.” He pauses and bites his lip. “The vampires don’t know about this?”

The feeder hesitates for a fraction of a second before saying, “No.” Clearly finished with his explanation for now, he heads to a stall in the distance. Not knowing where else to go, Jonghyun follows, a thousand questions brewing in his mind.

None of the intelligence they had on enclaves suggested anything about a human ghetto or even any sort of organization within the community, so this is completely unexpected but not unwelcome. He’ll have to revise a few of his impressions. Maybe he can even ask some of these people if they know anything about the murders—

His thoughts cut short when the feeder stops in front of a stall displaying different beaded pouches. He picks one up and takes a whiff of it but seems to find nothing. “Which flavor is this?” he asks the stooped old seller behind the stall.

“Citrus,” the woman responds with a cackle. “Make you taste like summer.”

Jonghyun shifts closer to take a look. “What are these?” he asks, lifting a bulky one and taking a sniff. It smells earthy and herby. A comforting, familiar smell—he’s sure he’s seen this combination of ingredients before.

“Taste enhancers,” the feeder says. “For your blood. Have you never used one before?”

“For my _what_?” Jonghyun echoes. That sounds insane.

“Makes your blood taste better to your masters, gives them a hint of the flavors they can’t get anymore.” The old woman sounds proud as she adds, “Made ‘em myself, you know. Your blood bag friends love them.” Jonghyun tugs on the ribbon holding one closed, but the woman’s hand snakes out, her grip vise-like as it keeps him from doing anything else. “You want to look, you buy,” she says.

“I just—” He doesn’t want to fight. Fishing a few coins out of his pocket, he tosses them at the woman, who lets go to catch them and tucks them into her pocket. When he’s finally free to open one, Jonghyun almost faints as a strong burst of magic energy contained inside explodes in his face. “There’s magic in this,” he says, knotting the bag again. “How?”

“Don’t have any fancy academy tattoos, but I know a thing or two,” the woman says. She smiles, revealing broken yellow teeth, and coughs into her hands. “Now shoo, I got other customers too.” Jonghyun doesn’t see anyone else around, but the feeder pulls him away with an exasperated sigh.

“Grandma can get temperamental,” he explains. “But her magic is good.” He nods at the pouch in Jonghyun’s hands. “Your master should be pleased.”

“Yeah, thank you.” He tucks the pouch in his pockets and tries not to grimace. The last thing he wants is for his blood to taste more desirable to vampires than it already is (witch blood—vampires crave it). But if it serves his purposes to let the feeder thinks he cares about pleasing Minhyun, then he’ll roll with it. “I’m Jonghyun, by the way. And you are?”

The feeder’s eyebrows stitch together. “I don’t have a name,” he says. At the look of alarm on Jonghyun’s face, he adds, “My master calls me ‘boy’ sometimes.” With a shrug, he turns and begins walking to another stall, leaving Jonghyun to jog to catch up. He’s been doing a lot of that lately.

“That’s not okay of him.”

The feeder—Boy, for the lack of a better name—smiles quickly, distractedly. “You owner is kind, but not all are.” Minhyun definitely qualifies as kind. He’s better than most of the vampires here because he still holds onto his humanity. Jonghyun is sure of it. “I’m relieved yours cares about you,” Boy continues. “It’s… hard to determine who is nice and who isn’t.”

“Why would you say he cares about me?”

Boy looks at him as if it’s obvious but doesn’t explain. He comes to stop in front of another stall and stands back to let Jonghyun look at the items on display. “Some aren’t as lucky as you. We try to help them too.”

 _We._ Jonghyun wonders if Boy is the one in charge here. He definitely seems like he has some authority here, but ‘we’ makes it sound like there’s another figure, another leader of sorts. Jonghyun makes a mental note to do some digging.

But more pressing than the possible other figure is what’s on display here. Jonghyun doesn’t need to ask what they sell here. He picks up a crudely carved stake and tries to remain neutral. Trading it for a knife of blessed silver, he tests its edge—blunt, but then again, it doesn’t have to be _sharp_ to kill a vampire—before setting it back down. All of these weapons have the seal of a noted Hunter guild on them. This enclave has ties to a hunter guild?

Something about this feels off.

“You’re smuggling weapons into the enclave,” Jonghyun says. He knows how tight security is. It was nearly impossible to get his in, and that was with Boa’s support. These are certified guild weapons. “Isn’t this dangerous? What if you get caught?”

“We’re careful.” Boy turns away. “Some people need this—for protection, escape, some just want to take control and feel like they have the option of doing something if they want to.”

The hair on the back of his neck stands up. “Vampires are dying,” Jonghyun says slowly. “Are any of your people behind it?” Boy eyes him slowly, curiosity and concern sparking in his eyes, but no suspicion. None that Jonghyun can sense, at least, and the spells on his skin usually help with gauging emotion. Still, to be safe, Jonghyun adds, “I’m worried about… Lord Minhyun. I don’t want him to be targeted.”

Boy’s expression relaxes. “I didn’t mourn some of the deceased,” he says carefully, “but others lost good masters.” He seems to consider it, rubbing his chin, then shrugs. “I can’t say. But don’t worry; your master should be safe.”

Jonghyun’s teeth dig into his bottom lip as he stares out at the humans crowding the area. His unease grows with each passing second. Something about this doesn’t seem right. He needs to get back and talk to Minhyun about these new developments.

Boy seems to sense his desire to leave and says, “I’ll show you out.” Jonghyun shakes his head and quickly pays for one of the blunt blessed silver knives first and tucks it into his jacket.

“Just in case,” he says, and Boy doesn’t ask any further questions.

 

* * *

 

_Jonghyun spends the evening digging into any complaints the Hwang family has made over the years. Aside from some petty threats and vandalism, there’s nothing on record that could explain the hate-filled threatening letter. He could always ask Minhyun about it, but Jonghyun doesn’t want him to know anything about this. If he can just solve the problem before Minhyun has to deal with it, everything will be fine. So he ends up hiding the letter before Minhyun gets home and makes a note to follow up on it later._

_Exhausted, Minhyun doesn’t even acknowledge him when he gets home. He sets his mask down on the table and throws himself face-first into the couch. “Long day?” Jonghyun asks from the kitchen and gets a groan in response. He chuckles to himself and comes over to slide the bag off Minhyun’s back and sets it by the couch. “Want a massage?”_

_“Jonghyun, you have no idea how to—ow!” Minhyun jerks away from his touch and frowns at him. “What happened to your lifetime ban on giving massages?”_

_“Minki says they’re romantic.”_

_“Because Minki has the hands of an angel.”_

_“I think he calls them ‘the hands of a rich prostitute’.”_

_“That too.” Minhyun pushes himself up and straightens the cushions behind them. “Do you mind grabbing me a glass of water?”_

_“Got it.” Jonghyun fetches him a fresh glass and sinks into the seat behind him as he drains it in one swing. Fidgeting in place, he wonders if he should just attempt to ask Minhyun something before the man heads to bed. Jonghyun doesn’t want to tell him what’s going on, but he doesn’t want this issue to drag on for too long. “Hey, uh, I know now might not be the best time, but have you heard from your family recently?”_

_“What?” Minhyun blinks in surprise and lowers his glass. “Not in a while. Why are you asking?”_

_“So you don’t know anyone who might have a vendetta against them?”_

_“There might be a few people, but why do you want to know?” He sets the glass down with a clatter. Narrowing his eyes, Minhyun leans towards Jonghyun. “Don’t tell me my parents came to you for help with something.” When Jonghyun doesn’t respond, he sighs. “What do they need this time?”_

_The last thing he wants is to lie—Jonghyun is not good at it—but he scrambles to think of something to fit Minhyun’s assumption. “They… applied for a licence for some kind of a festival? But it’s being blocked by someone so your mother asked me to look into it.”_

_“I’m not surprised.” Minhyun leans back and closes his eyes. “I tell them not to speak to me and they come to you to get their work done.”_

_“I don’t mind helping them.”_

_“You should.” Minhyun falls silent after that, seemingly lost in his own thoughts. “None of my parents’ enemies have the pull to stop applications in the bureau,” he says finally. “Tell my mother we can’t do anything for her.”_

_“They don’t have to be powerful—just anyone in general. I’d rather cover all the bases.”_

_“That’s not going impress them, you know?” But Minhyun laces his fingers behind his head and frowns. “There was one… well, when my parents moved to a new village, the people there asked my mother to stop the vampires from feeding on them. So she cursed the vampires there, made so that if they fed from anyone in the village, they’d die, and one of the vampires did.” He pauses and grimaces at the memories. “The coven vowed revenge, but I wouldn’t worry about it. They were a small rural bloodline; they have no power.”_

_Vampires… Jonghyun thinks back to the letter. It could definitely be this group—they have the motive and the means to make these threats. The important thing is whether they intend to follow through or not. Jonghyun makes a small noise of contemplation under his breath. “Which coven?"_

_“Sswaegipul.”_

_“Not a very impressive name.”_

_Minhyun stands up and stretches. “Like I said, they’re not powerful,” he yawns. “I appreciate you being nice to my parents, but you really don’t have to.”_

_“I want to.” He wants to help Minhyun, to take care of this problem without Minhyun ever becoming aware of it. As Minhyun’s partner and boyfriend, it’s his job to protect him. And that is the one thing Jonghyun is good at: protecting people._

_He’ll protect Minhyun from this too._

 

* * *

 

Jonghyun paces.

A new theory starts formulating in his mind. He doesn’t have anything to back it up, but Jonghyun doesn’t think the culprit is a vampire. For a lineage with no known feuds or enemies, it would be difficult to determine who all in the coven could possibly hate them enough to coordinate so many kills. But if one assumes it’s the feeders… their motive is obvious, and if they have access to hunter guild weaponry, they have the means to kill their masters too. Not to mention the element of surprise. No vampire would see their death coming from the hands of their meals.

But that begs the question: how could human feeders overpower vampires? Vampires are both faster and stronger than most humans, with heightened senses of sight, hearing, and smell. Even if a few feeders managed to get the jump on a vampire, there would be little chance of them winning that fight, and even if they did, there would be a bigger trail of bodies. Feeders dead. Maybe there are and Boa simply didn’t care to mention.

He stops and glances at the clock. A frantic sort of energy buzzes under his skin with his new revelation, and he pulls out the dagger he bought earlier to run his thumb over the guild seal. If the feeders really are behind this, then Jonghyun can’t say he’s unsympathetic. He can fully understand why feeders would want to strike back against their vampire masters. And he’s not entirely sure he would want to hand them over to Boa in that case.

But that isn’t a decision for him to make. He wishes Minhyun was here so they could talk and bounce ideas off each other. Despite what people might think, Jonghyun is usually the one who has trouble containing himself when they’re working on a case while Minhyun is the steady one who grounds him. Was. Was the steady one who grounded him, pulled him away from files to make sure he slept and ate, the one who curbed some of his wilder theories and kept him from getting himself killed or worse in pursuit of evidence… of justice…

The buzz fades at the sudden rush of old memories. Jonghyun sinks onto the couch and lets the knife clatter to the floor. He’s been tightly repressing his emotions for the past few years, but sometimes he slips up. He hates feeling like he’s lost something, like there’s something to mourn over, but the Minhyun-shaped hole in the past five years of his life isn’t something he can ignore either.

Jonghyun misses him. Misses working with him. He’s spent the last couple of years bouncing from one partner to another on a case-by-case basis and he’s tired of having to adjust and readjust every time he’s put on a new one. Kahi offered to put him with someone else permanently, but Jonghyun resisted for some dumb reason. Or maybe he knows the reason: no one could ever replace Minhyun.

He wonders if they could ever work together again. Though he’s getting ahead of himself—they need to wrap up this case first.

Sucking in a deep breath, he forces himself to calm down and raises his head. Timely. only a couple of minutes later, the lock turns and Minhyun stumbles through the door, tripping over his feet as he hastens to close it behind him. His cheeks are flush—as pink as a human’s—and his eyes look glassy and unfocused. He looks drunk, but vampires don’t drink anything but… blood.

Jonghyun’s stomach twists at the thought of the party. He hopes it was worth it.

“You’re still up,” Minhyun says when he finally notices him. He drops his keys on the counter and stretches his arms over his head. “I thought you’d be asleep.” Without waiting for a response, he throws himself face-first on the empty couch, burrowing his nose into a soft pillow.

“I was waiting for you,” Jonghyun says. Something about this is domestic, tugging on a buried memory. “I went to the Night Market and found something interesting there.”

Minhyun raises his head. “Oh?” He sounds genuinely interested, but Jonghyun can’t focus on anything except his pink cheeks, shining eyes, and red lips. For the first time in a while, Minhyun looks human. If Jonghyun squints, he can pretend he is.

“A few things, actually.” He attempts to reorient himself. “I found—” A part of him feels like he shouldn’t be telling Minhyun about the little sanctuary, like it’s breaking some kind of unwritten rule to tell a vampire about it. But this is for the case and he’s not actually one of them. He isn’t betraying anybody. Still, he hesitates. “Maybe now isn’t the time to talk about this.”

Minhyun gives him an odd look. “If you’re sure,” he says. “But you’re right; we have tomorrow, and you look too tired for a debrief.”

“I want to know what you found at the party, though,” he says quickly. Jonghyun wants to know if the party was worth Minhyun attending despite his wishes.

Minhyun’s pleasant expression darkens. “Not much,” he admits quietly. “No one seemed to have a problem with Seokhoon or his lineage. Most people were actually upset about the deaths, but they also seem to think they’ll be safe now since the last vampire with Seokhoon’s blood was killed a week ago. It’s been quiet since.”

“Hmmmm.” But vampires are good at hiding things. He wouldn’t get too comfortable with that. Still, Minhyun’s findings support the idea that the culprits could’ve been the feeders as well. Jonghyun picks up the knife and slides it up his sleeve, the metal cold against his skin. “Did you… drink at the party?” he asks haltingly. It slips out unintended; he’s emboldened by the knife on him.

“I…” Minhyun leans his head back and sighs. “Yeah, I drank. I was thirsty.”

“Why were you thirsty? I watched you feed less than a day ago.” Ideally, vampires feed only once every few weeks. The older ones feed more often, but one of Minhyun’s age should be able to go without blood for a month. Granted, he drinks a mixture of animal blood and donated human blood, but twice in twenty four hours is excessive.

“You’re asking me a lot of questions I don’t think you want the answer to.” Rather than sounding angry, Minhyun seems tired with no fight left in him. “I didn’t think you wanted to know—or understand—anything about my new life.”

“I didn’t.” It’s shameful to admit. “I didn’t because I was afraid. I didn’t want to hear about you becoming like them.” With trembling hands, Jonghyun rolls his collar down to reveal the patchwork of faint scars criss crossing over his neck. “I didn’t want to associate you with the people who did this to me.”

Minhyun’s eyes are rooted to his skin. Nothing else about him moves; he’s abandoned all pretext of breathing or blinking.

“But you’re not like them. I get that. I can’t pretend like you’re an imposter or that the real you is dead when I keep seeing you in everything you do, Minhyun.” There are differences and times when Jonghyun finds it hard to reconcile this person with the one he used to know like the back of his hand, but the glimpses of familiarity are enough for him to latch onto. Maybe he’s only seeing what he wants to, but… he’s okay with consciously deluding himself.

Jonghyun wants Minhyun back.

A myriad of emotions cross Minhyun’s face, finally settling on what can only be described as disbelief. “You—” He stops and laughs, a manic, jagged sound that rips into him. “You shouldn’t say that. _Wouldn’t_ say that if you really knew what I was capable of.”

“And what is that?”

Looking uncomfortable, Minhyun spreads his hands out in front of him and curls them inwards. “You deserve to know, I guess. What happened when I left the bureau after I turned, why people think I’m an ancient vampire. Why I need to drink so much blood.” Every word seems to take a monumental effort for him to push out. “I never wanted to tell you. Didn’t want you to look at me like the monster I know I am.”

Shifting closer, Jonghyun stays quiet and waits for Minhyun to continue.

“When I left, it was to hunt down my sire—the man who turned me into a vampire—and kill him.” Minhyun raises his eyes to meet Jonghyun’s widened ones. “You know how vampires control thralls? They can do that with the newborns they turn as well. To a lesser degree, sure, but when I woke up, I could feel him there in the back of my mind, calling me to him, telling me to hurt—” He breaks off and shakes his head. “I wasn’t going to do that. He’d already taken so much; I refused to give him my will too.”

Minhyun smiles ruefully, like a comedian about to deliver a punchline. “So I tracked him down, I ripped his dead heart out of his chest, and I ate it.”

“You did what?” The violence in the statement makes him recoil. Jonghyun has problems wraping his head around it.

“It’s the reason why so many vampires think I’m older than I am. It’s not a well known ritual, but eating a vampire’s heart gives you their power, so my blood carries his now.” Minhyun’s mouth twists into something harshly heartbreaking as his shoulders slump. “I never wanted power. I just thought if I got rid of him, I could go back to living my life freely and pretend nothing was wrong, but—” He shrugs despondently. “I am what I am: I killed the old Minhyun and now I’m a monster pretending not to be one.”

They lapse into a long, drawn out silence as Jonghyun tries to absorb everything Minhyun just said. It sounds too horrible to be true, and yet… Revenge is something Jonghyun understands, especially against the ones who took everything for them. He just didn’t think Minhyun was capable of it. He didn’t think Minhyun would hide something like that from him. “I would have helped you.”

Minhyun doesn’t look particularly surprised. “I wouldn’t have let you. Patricide is technically a crime. I never wanted you to be a part of this.”

“I think I’m owed vengeance against them too.”

“But you wouldn’t have done it for yourself,” Minhyun replies. “You’re a noble idiot who always wants to help because you think it’s your responsibility to save the world. If you went with me and helped me kill him, it would be because you think you had to make it up to me for something. You would have ended up putting yourself in danger for me and I didn’t want that.”

“I _do_ have to make it up to you.” Jonghyun was supposed to protect Minhyun, to take care of him. In the end he couldn’t keep Minhyun from losing his life and he couldn’t help Minhyun take his sire’s. What good is he even for if he can’t help the people he loves?

 _“Stop it.”_ Minhyun stands up and closes the distance between them. He kneels in front of Jonghyun so they’re on the same level and making eye contact. “I hate it when you try to blame yourself for me being what I am. It’s not your fucking fault, Jonghyun. It was always supposed to be _me._ They were targeting me from the beginning.”

“But I—”

“Tried to keep it from happening, I know. But it didn’t work and that’s not on you.” He takes Jonghyun’s hands and gives them a tentative squeeze, just enough pressure to be comforting. “Things don’t always work out the way we want, but we learn to work around them.”

“How do we work around this?” Jonghyun finally asks. His voice cracks from the strain of keeping it together. He’s doing an awful job of it, but he’s spent the last few years carrying this weight on his shoulders, feeling like he’s done something wrong—like he’s betrayed Minhyun—just for existing. Because he couldn’t stop Minhyun from turning into something less-and-more-than human.

And that was his main fear, beyond the vampiric nature and the blood drinking and the teeth: his failure.

He can’t drown himself in it forever.

“I… don’t know yet,” Minhyun admits. He scratches his ear and laughs sheepishly, his expression open and honest for once. “But we’re here and we’re willing to try—and it’s a lot more than I thought we’d ever get. So I can wait for us to figure it out.”

Wait. Maybe once they get out of here, they can try to work things out. For now, Jonghyun gently pulls his hands away and shoves them into his pockets. “I’ll sleep on it,” he says, attempting a smile back at Minhyun. He doesn’t think he succeeds, but the grin he gets in return is blinding.

“Yeah, of course.” As Jonghyun heads to his room, Minhyun calls out, “Sweet dreams, Jonghyun.”

“You too.” Jonghyun wonders what vampires dream of. He wonders if it even matters.


	4. iv. fourth blood

_What does it mean to die when you can live until the end of the world? And what is 'the end of the world' except a phrase, because who knows even what is the world itself?"_  
_—_ **Anne Rice** , _Interview with a Vampire_

✩

Jonghyun sleeps fitfully until summons arrive in the form of a bleary-eyed thrall on behalf of Boa. “It’s urgent,” is all she tells Jonghyun and Minhyun before taking them through the streets to a small cottage on the outskirts of the enclave. The western part of the wall looms imposingly right beside the place. Everything is eerily still this time of day, as if someone hit the pause button on the entire city, and the three of them are the only people still moving. Jonghyun instinctively moves closer; his hands brush against Minhyun’s as they enter the house, unease mounting.

The palpable tension hanging in the air only intensifies as they follow the thrall deeper into the house. “Shit,” Minhyun swears, pushing ahead of the rest of them to the study. He must have caught scent of something they’re not going to like, and Jonghyun has a sinking suspicion he knows what. His fears are confirmed when he walks in through the door to see two corpses sprawled out in the room. At Jonghyun’s insistence, the thrall remains outside and closes the door behind him.

Jonghyun is used to seeing bodies in his line of work, but it never gets any easier. He wrinkles his nose as he crouches down beside the first victim lying prone on the floor. They’re badly burned, just a mass of blackened skin stretched taut above bones. Contrary to what he expected, he doesn’t smell any burning flesh, just smoke. Holding his breath, he probes a charred limb with his finger and pulls away when it crumbles in front of his eyes. “Shit,” he echoes. It’s hard not to feel nauseated at the sight even now. “Can we even identify the victims like this?”

Minhyun leans over the other body. Splayed out on a chaise in a silken robe, it looks unharmed save for the very obvious, very glaring lack of a head. The hunt for it takes a while, but Minhyun eventually finds it shoved underneath the desk, bloodless and blank. “I think I know them.” Grimacing, he sets it down gingerly onto the victim’s lap and steps back. “This one is Gunmin. I met him last night and I remember him saying he was going home with a vampire named Jaehan.”

“So this is Jaehan?” The body is burned beyond recognition, but it’s safe to assume. They’ll have to cross-reference with missing vampires in a while, though he knows there won’t be any reports of a missing vampire just yet—these bodies look fresh. “Do they have any connection with Seokhoon or his lineage?”

“That’s the thing,” Minhyun says, sounding troubled. “Neither of them were as far as I know. And like I said, every vampire I spoke to yesterday was convinced the threat was over. They’re not going to react well to these deaths.” He crosses his arms over his chest. “This breaks the pattern. The next victim could be anyone else.”

“So.” These murders are going to take them back to stage one. “It’s not a blood feud.” And that makes the killer—or killers—dangerous. Unpredictability is the worst thing in these situations because it leads to panic, and panic leads to chaos. This could blow up in their faces. Unless… Jonghyun thinks back to the theory he was playing around with last night. “Do you know what kind of people they were? I mean, by vampire standards. Brutal, cruel, kind?”

“I didn’t know them that well, but I can investigate.” Minhyun turns back to the decapitated victim. “This blow looks messy,” he says, peering closely at the wound. His nose twitches. “Like someone hacked at it. Whoever did this wasn’t that strong.”

Jonghyun abandons the charred body to stand next to Minhyun. He’s right; the blow looks choppy. “But there’s no sign of resistance,” he muses out loud. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he fell asleep here and someone hacked his head off while he was down.”

Minhyun hums in agreement. “What if they were already dead?”

“What do you mean?”

“What if Gunmin was already dead when someone decapitated him? Same with Jaehan before he was lit on fire? What if they were killed in a different way and the culprits were trying to cover it up or hide it? That would explain why none of the other crime scenes showed any signs of resistance or a struggle.”

“How else would someone kill a vampire?” He bites his lip. “Or they could have restrained or paralyzed them in some way.” That still leaves them with the questions who, why, and how. “I might have a few ideas about it. I wanted to tell you last night, but—” He feels guilty; not that it would have prevented this in any way, but sharing his theory with two fresh deaths hanging over their head doesn’t sound pleasant.

“It’s okay. We can talk now.” Minhyun turns away from the bodies and rubs his eyes. He looks unsettled, almost nauseous. Jonghyun can’t blame him. The scene is pretty gruesome, and if he knows Minhyun, he’s wondering if he couldn’t have prevented it somehow. Jonghyun’s wondering that too. They were brought here to stop this from happening. And yet two people were killed while they were on the case.

Who’s to say there won’t be more? Who’s to say Minhyun couldn’t be targeted next? Jonghyun thinks back to what Boy told him the night before. _Your master should be safe._ For some reason, it doesn’t sit well with him. Boy sounded too confident and reassuring for his liking, like he had some kind of authority to make a statement like that. Was it a threat or a promise?

Jonghyun puts a hand on Minhyun’s arm. “Let’s head back,” he suggests, turning away. He doesn’t want to spend more time here than he absolutely has to, and no doubt Boa will be putting pressure on them to solve this quickly. “I’ll fill you in at home.”

Minhyun exhales loudly and nods as the two leave the dead to their slumber.

 

* * *

 

Minhyun is less surprised by Jonghyun’s theory than he expected him to be. “You really think the feeders might be behind this?” Sitting at the table in their temporary apartment, Minhyun pushes some of the files away and presses his lips together. What feels like the entirety of Boa’s study litters their apartment—the coven leader was not happy about the deaths and made it clear that she expected answers, fast. Jonghyun and Minhyun are combing through the files again in an attempt to find something, but they’ve gone through most of this before.

“I mean, who does a feeder hate more than the creature who keeps them around as food? Someone who doesn’t even see them as a human being with thoughts and emotions?” He picks up the stress ball from his boxes and throws it up in the air before catching it again. “They have the motive, and they have access to most of the weapons used on our victims. Besides, most fire-related deaths aren’t the work of other vampires. Too risky for them to get caught in the… crossfire.”

“That’s a bad joke.” But Minhyun chuckles anyway before growing serious. “Can you pass me the knife again?” Jonghyun slides it over and Minhyun squints down at the seal, taking great care not to touch it. “Did you verify if it was authentic or not?”

“Yeah, it’s genuine.” Hunters stand to gain a lot from arming feeders inside enclaves too, now that Jonghyun thinks about it. They can stir some chaos within the walled cities without sacrificing any of their people or bearing any responsibility.

“We don’t know how they managed it, though. Feeders just aren’t strong enough to overpower a vampire, even if we assume there were four or five of them working together.” As if to illustrate, Minhyun reaches over to the brass on on the table and bends it in two without even breaking a sweat. He tosses it beside Jonghyun, who can barely lift the thing with all his strength. “I’m finding it hard to believe they could take on sixteen of them.”

“But what if the vampires were already dead or paralyzed before they killed them? It’s pretty easy to overpower something if it can’t move, even if it is an undead predator.” Jonghyun pulls out the notes Minhyun made on Gunmin’s body and underlines the point. “You said it looked like someone hacked at the neck to get the head off. A vampire wouldn’t have to do that. A hunter wouldn’t bother.”

Minhyun takes the notes from him at stares down at them. His eyebrows knit together in concentration. “I don’t know anything that could immobilize a vampire. We’re immune to poisons and—but wait, holy water.” Understanding dawns on his face, and with it, horror. “ _Holy water works_.”

 _Holy water._ Jonghyun’s pulse begins to race. “What would it do?”

“I don’t know, I’m theorizing.” Minhyun pushes his chair back and starts to pace, short purposeful strides that move faster than Jonghyun can see. Looking directly at him makes Jonghyun feel dizzy. “If you throw it on us, it’s more of a burning feeling, but if you could get a vampire to ingest it, then I think it could poison or stun a vampire.” He stops. “But holy water is a class three banned substance. It’s practically impossible to smuggle it into the country, much less into an enclave like this.”

They’ve both been in the bureau long enough to realize that laws don’t really stop people from criminal activities. Jonghyun has picked up enough people on his own for smuggling banned substances into Korea to know that people can manage anything. “If feeders can smuggle weapons into the enclave, I’m sure they can get their hands on worse. Especially if they’re in contact with hunters on the outside.”

“You have a point there.” Minhyun resumes his pacing more frantically than before. “And feeders can usually come and go as they please; they’re beneath most vampires’ notice.” The question of why still stands if the holy water theory has some traction.

Jonghyun taps his fingers on the desk. “I’ll go back to the human ghetto,” he says eventually. “I’ll see if they have any holy water on sale there and try to figure out who might have the strongest motive for wanting these vampires dead.” Standing up, he grabs his jacket and slips it on. He thinks he vaguely remembers the path, but if not, he can always use a spell to trace back his steps.

Minhyun blinks. “Should I come with—”

“ _No,”_ Jonghyun says, rather forcefully. “No, it’s… not somewhere you can go.” If he wants to talk to feeders about killing vampires, Minhyun’s presence there would just be a distraction and keep people from being honest with them. Besides, none of the feeders would trust him if he betrayed the ghetto’s location. “You should talk to vampires in the meantime—we still need to determine why these vampires were targeted. Maybe start with how they treat their feeders?”

“Got it.” Minhyun stands and grabs a file off the table. “I know what happened is horrible, but I think we’re making progress. We work well together, partner.” He hesitates and adds, “I missed you,” avoiding making eye contact.

Jonghyun shoves his hands in his pockets. “Me too,” he says. It’s been lonely working by himself, switching off partners so often that he barely has time to learn their names. Minhyun is familiar, the perfect complement to Jonghyun, and their partnership still holds strong after so many years. It’s like they never even took a break. He opens his mouth to say something else, but closes it again, still unsure of what ground they’re treading on now after last night’s talk.

Minhyun seems to get it. “Well, stay safe,” he says, giving him a quick grin. Though his muscles are stiff and permanently frozen in an expression of worry, Jonghyun attempts to return it, but only succeeds in making Minhyun laugh. “Valiant attempt, there.” He pats Jonghyun on the back before heading out. Pocketing the knife, Jonghyun follows.

The smile comes easier now.

 

* * *

 

_On their way back from questioning a suspect on the gumiho case, Minhyun asks to stop by the BSA headquarters to discuss something with Dongho. “It’ll be quick,” he promises, pressing his lips Jonghyun’s cheek before heading into the break room to find the man._

_Instead of waiting outside, Jonghyun stops by his desk to gather up some of his files and pick up the manga hidden in his desk drawer. Nayoung raises her eyebrows at the well-worn volumes but says nothing. Her silent judgement stings worse though. Jonghyun flushes as he tucks the manga in his bag and makes to leave._

_But a note lying on Minhyun’s desk catches his eye. It’s… disturbingly familiar. His mind flashes back to the envelope containing the threatening letter he found tucked into Minhyun’s papers a few weeks ago. Lunging forward, he grabs the envelope and turns it over in his hands a couple of times. “Did you see who left this here?” he asks Nayoung._

_She shakes her head. “No, it was there when I came in this morning.”_

_“And Minhyun hasn’t seen it yet?”_

_“He hasn’t stopped by his desk at all so far.” Nayoung stops writing her report and looks at him with concern. “Is something going on?” she asks. “Can I help?”_

_Actually… “Yeah, do you have any information the Sswaegipul coven?” he asks, sliding it in between his papers. “Current whereabouts? What they’ve been up to in the past few months?”_

_“Give me a few minutes,” she says. While she goes digging in the records room, Jonghyun carefully opens the letter and scans its contents as quickly as possible. As before, it’s written in red ink, the characters sloppy and near illegible. But it’s not addressed to the Hwang family this time. Jonghyun’s heart sinks as he reads the short message._

 

> **MINHYUN—**  
>  Pickdale Warehouse, 9pm, March 28.  
>  Be there alone and unarmed.  
>  Or I will hunt your sister down and rip her still beating heart out of her chest and deliver it to your doorstep.  
>  I await your arrival.

_He’d been half-convinced that whoever was sending these things wasn’t serious. Hoped they weren’t so this wouldn’t escalate. Jonghyun can’t show Minhyun this note or let him go to this location. Knowing Minhyun, he’d want to. Even though Minhyun and his parents aren’t on speaking terms, he cares about his sister. There’s no way he’d put her in danger._

_Jonghyun folds up the note and slides it in between his papers. Nayoung returns a few moments later with a file and hands it over to him. “That is everything we have on the Sswaegipul coven.” It’s fairly thin; Jonghyun flips through it quickly and finds nothing worth noting except that the coven recently applied for residence in the Buyuk Enclave located on the other side of the country._

_“Thanks, Nayoung.”_

_“Happy to help.” She returns to her desk, but hesitates before sitting down. “Jonghyun, I hope you’re not planning to do something… foolish.”_

_He attempts a smile to ease her concerns. “I’ll be careful.” But he’s absolutely planning to do something foolish and possibly even stupid. There’s no way he’s going to let Minhyun go to this Pickdale Warehouse. But whoever these people are don’t need to know the person they have isn’t Minhyun. And by the time they figure it out, Jonghyun will have handled the situation. Simple._

_Jonghyun swallows and says goodbye before heading out to find Minhyun. Perhaps he’s oversimplifying it, but Jonghyun will do anything to protect the people he loves, even if it means taking risks for their sake. He won’t let these vampires—if it is them—hurt Minhyun or Sujin no matter what he has to do._

 

* * *

 

He loses his way within the first few minutes and has to use a trace spell to find the place again. Following the spell line, he arrives at the entrance and snuffs it out. Some of the magic still clings to him as he enters the sanctuary regardless and he sincerely hopes that the hedge-witch isn’t around at her stall today. The last thing Jonghyun needs right now is for someone to call him out for being a witch. That is one thing he can’t think of an explanation for.

But a quick glance around reveals that many of the merchants are absent and their stalls empty and deserted. Jonghyun wanders around until he hears a voice in the distance and follows the sound to a large crowd gathered around a figure elevated above the rest. Jonghyun has no desire to elbow his way to the front so he hangs back behind the throng of people. From here, he can just about make out the sight of the Mugunghwa crest on the speaker’s chest.

One of the spectators jostles against him and shrinks back, scared, when he turns to look at her. “Sorry, mister,” she says.

Jonghyun attempts to soothe her over with a quick smile. “What’s going on here?” he asks, gesturing to the crowd around them. He strains his ears to hear what the man up there is saying, but he can’t make it out without a spell to enhance his hearing. But Jonghyun doesn’t want to take the risk to perform magic with this audience.

Her eyes widen. “Minho is here,” she says in a hushed whisper, beckoning him closer. “He came to tell us about Lords Gunmin and Jaehan, and to celebrate.”

“Minho?” Who is Minho? But the human scurries away before Jonghyun can question her further. He guesses that must be the person addressing the crowd, but how would he know about the death of those vampires? He’s pretty sure Boa and her people have made every attempt to keep it quiet to prevent panic from spreading. Jonghyun’s teeth sink into his bottom lip. Pulling out a listening charm, he mutters an activation under his breath.

“—deserved what was done to them,” the speaker says proudly. “They took from us like they have continued to take all these years, and like the others, they have paid for it with their lives. And I will continue to make them pay. I will fight for your freedom in this way. No vampire will be spared. We will build a—”

Another spectator bumps against him and the charm fizzles out. Jonghyun swears and scrambles around his pockets for another one, but by the time he digs one out, the crowd has begun to disperse and the speaker is nowhere to be found. Jonghyun’s stomach sinks. _Shit._ If only he could have id’d his face or gotten a recording of his speech, it would’ve been the proof he and Minhyun need to put this case to rest.

Because it has to be this guy, he thinks. He has to be involved somehow. Boy spoke in the plural—’we’—and he got the sense that there was someone else who was pulling the strings and in charge of the ghetto. Someone like this speaker, with the power to inspire and lead other feeders into taking risks for them. Judging from the way other people were speaking about him, a lot of people here are loyal to him.

Jonghyun needs more information. He needs—

“You’re the new one,” a voice above him says. Jonghyun’s head jerks up to the see the man who was speaking, a black-haired feeder with wild eyes and grime caked on his face. Nothing about him really marks him as distinct save for the way he carries himself: not like he’s trying to be smaller, but with his shoulders held high in confidence. Jonghyun straightens up warily, trying to memorize the man’s features. “The new Lordy’s feeder, Jonghyun.”

“How did you—”

The man laughs mirthlessly. “My… _friend_ told me about you. He showed you around the other day.” He crosses his arms over his chest. Jonghyun thinks he’s probably referring to Boy. The word friend doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence. “What are you doing back here so soon?”

He tries desperately to think back to his conversation with Boy to determine what kinds of things he might’ve said about Jonghyun. Boy got the impression he was a vampire-loving feeder, right? Jonghyun just needs to play into that. “I’m here—to ask about the murdered vampires.” The feeder sneers, disgust crawling over his features. “I heard there were more deaths and I wanted to know if anyone… knew anything about it.”

The feeder smirks. “Your master send you out to gather information? Or are you here on your own, hoping to protect him?” When Jonghyun doesn’t say anything, he laughs harshly. The sound grates on Jonghyun’s ears, but he tries to keep his expression neutral. “He must be real nice to you.”

“I’m here on my own.”

“How fucking quaint.” The feeder snorts and crosses his arms over his chest. “You’re deluded you know? Masters don’t care about us.” He leans closer, until their faces are almost touching, and Jonghyun tries not to flinch. The naked hate in the feeder’s eyes catches him off guard. “You can fool yourself into thinking they do, but people with power over you only ever see you as tools.”

“I know that,” Jonghyun says. “But I care about him.”

“You’re either misguided or stupid.” The feeder turns away. “Boy was wrong. I don’t have time to waste on you.”

“Minho, right?” Jonghyun says, stopping him in his tracks. “So what are you trying to do? Get rid of vampires who use you for food? Promising these people you can make a difference if you kill a few bloodsuckers—”

“Wouldn’t say a few,” Minho cuts in, baring his teeth. “I definitely put the fear of some kind of God into these monsters.” He seems to be taking sole responsibility for what happened, but that doesn’t make any sense. How could a sole feeder do that much damage? But Minho pays no attention to his puzzlement, just continues to talk. “I’m giving these people hope. I’m promising them salvation.”

“At what cost?” He remembers Boa’s face when she talked about justice. She will stop at nothing to punish the culprits, and he’s heard vampires believe in collective punishment. “If you get caught, the vampires will kill every single one of y—of us. You’re putting everyone in danger.”

Minho’s eyes narrow. His body practically shakes with anger, radiating hate as he looks at Jonghyun. “You don’t know anything,” he spits out. _“Traitor.”_ Jonghyun doesn’t have the chance to say anything else before Minho walks away and loses himself in the crowd. He tries to follow but the man has vanished and no one else seems to be able to tell him where he went or who his masters are.

Jonghyun ends up leaning against a stall with a bitter taste in his mouth. He feels like he just let the perp slip through his hands, but part of him is a little relieved as well. He doesn’t agree with the methods Minho is using, but he can’t deny that he sympathizes more with him and the feeders than he does with the vampires who will undoubtedly eradicate them when they find out. Minho, every feeder involved, even those who have nothing to do with this—they’ll all suffer.

But he wasn’t sent here to have opinions, just to stop whatever’s happening. He drags his hands down his face and sighs. There aren’t going to be any winners or losers here before the end, just more death. Jonghyun doesn’t know what’s right or wrong here; there are too many shades of grey. He despises grey. None of these decisions are his to make alone, though. He needs to head back and talk to Minhyun.

He heads back to the apartment, mulling the encounter over in his mind. The knife is still in his pockets; Jonghyun wraps his fingers around the hilt for reassurance. Gambling with peoples' lives is something he never wanted to do.


	5. v. fifth blood

_... we both know we are trying, all the time, to extend the possibilities of truth between us._  
_The possibility of life between us._  
_—_ **Adrienne Rich** , from _On Lies, Secrets, and Silence  
_

✩

In the time between leaving the ghetto and returning to his temporary base, Jonghyun develops a throbbing headache. His bad mood translates into his actions; he slams the door shut behind him with enough force to make the frames on the wall shake. Rubbing his temples, he collapses on the couch and sighs, not noticing Minhyun is home until the man in question clears his throat and asks, “You’re home already?”

Jonghyun starts and almost leaps off the couch. “When did you get back?”

“Half an hour ago.” Minhyun has a blood pouch in his hands and a thin stream of red dribbling out of the corner of his mouth. Jonghyun has gotten used to the sight for the most part now. He forces himself to think of it as a type of juice just to get over the discomfort of watching Minhyun drink blood. He knows Minhyun isn’t the kind of person to feed from a person and that is truly reassuring.

Though he might have issues for a different reason too. Minhyun takes a seat beside him and Jonghyun reaches over to wipe his mouth with his sleeve absentmindedly. Minhyun tenses under his touch, but remains still until the last traces of his meal are gone. “For a vampire, you’re a pretty messy eater,” Jonghyun says tiredly. It still surprises him that he can say the word so casually now, but it terrifies him less than it used to. A word is just a word, and Minhyun is more than just a word.

“I thought I had more time to finish and clean up before you got home,” Minhyun says, abashed. He takes one last sip of his drink before tossing it in the trash and moving closer until his leg is pressed against Jonghyun’s. The contact, the heat, is comforting and Jonghyun leans into it. “Did you find anything?”

Jonghyun squeezes his eyes shut. “I found a lot,” he says, chuckling tiredly. “I’m pretty sure I know who’s behind everything. He practically gave me a confession. I just…” He trails off, not really sure how to phrase it. He’s conflicted. Conflicted, angry, and lost about what to do here. “I asked Boa what she would do to the culprits after we hand them over and I got the impression that she was going to make the culprit and anyone involved with them suffer.”

“She probably will,” Minhyun agrees.

“But if it’s the feeders—whether a single person or a group working together—then I don’t know if we should even submit our findings to her.” He doesn’t want their deaths on his conscience, not when ideologically, he agrees with them. If Jonghyun was actually a feeder in this enclave, he knows without a doubt that he would be a part of that. He’d try to fight back. Can he condemn people for doing the same?

Minhyun is quiet as he mulls over Jonghyun’s dilemma. “You’re afraid of the repercussions.”

“You know how people like her think. You can’t tell me she wouldn’t wipe out every single human in this enclave if she found out they were behind the deaths of her ‘family.’”

“I’ve been thinking about this too, but what other options do we even have?” Minhyun’s voice reflects his inner turmoil. “I don’t want innocent people to get hurt, but what else can we do? Not tell Boa who was behind it? Frame someone else as the culprit? If we did a bad job of it, Kahi would have to shoulder the blame and it’d come back to us.”

“We could…” It’s a lose-lose situation either way. “I dunno, convince the feeders to stop.”

“You really think that would work?” Minhyun’s skepticism is obvious in his voice.

Jonghyun laughs drily. “No. I don’t think so.” Minho sounded convinced of what he was doing, like he really believed he was making a difference. Maybe he was; Jonghyun saw the way people looked at him, like a hero or a saviour. And his hatred for vampires oozed out of his every pore. Jonghyun gets the sense that the only way he’d stop is if he was dead. A stern talking-to won’t do shit. “I just don’t know if I could live with myself if I betrayed all of them for my job.”

“Jonghyun.” Minhyun’s voice is gentle. “Some unpleasant things we can’t control. Sometimes it’s not even our place to make a decision. We just have to find a way to live with it, like learning to compromise.” A long pause stretches between them before Minhyun continues. “You said you knew who was masterminding it, right?”

“Yeah.” Jonghyun pulls himself out of his head and focuses on the matter at hand. “He said something about the vampires deserving it after what they’ve done to feeders, about fighting for freedom… building some kind of a...I don’t know, vampire-free haven?”

“Is that why he’s killing vampires?”

“I think so. He said something about saving people, giving them hope. Hope that feeders can fight back, maybe.” Jonghyun sighs. “That explains why he’s killing vampires, but not why he killed these vampires specifically. Did you find anything out about them?”

Minhyun is quiet, tapping his fingers against his knee. “A few things… I’m not going to call any of them good people, but some were decent by vampire standards. I know Jaehan wasn’t cruel, neither was Woodam. Others who were killed in some pretty brutal ways were known to be kind to their feeders. But Seokhoon had questionable tastes and all this started with him.”

“Does it go back to him? Did it start with him for a reason and snowballed from there?” Jonghyun doesn’t expect an answer, but Minhyun surprises him by nodding.

“I’ve been thinking about how the killer choses their victims,” he says, heading into his room and returning with a stack of papers. He drops them into Jonghyun’s lap and picks up the first one. “I was looking at the wills and realized there’s a clause here that allows a vampire’s feeders to get passed down to their heirs, along with other things.” Jonghyun picks up a few of them and confirms it. Some of them even have a tidy list of names and date of births for each feeder.

“It started with Seokhoon,” Minhyun continues, ”then his stuff was inherited by his heir, Woodam, who also died, and then his stuff was passed on, right down the chain. Right down the lineage.”

Jonghyun sucks in a deep breath. There is a pattern and it makes sense now. “Where did the feeders go after the lineage died out?”

Minhyun shuffles through a few papers and plucks out another will. “Gunmin,” he says, handing it over to Jonghyun. “They’re going down the list and killing every new master they get. Jaehan just happened to be there while they attacked Gunmin.”

Jonghyun’s palms are clammy. “Who are they with now?”

“Hyunmin.”

“We have to warn him.” But it would be a hell of a lot easier if they could tell him what to be on guard for. Jonghyun still hasn’t figured out how the vampires are actually being killed. “Just tell him to stay away from a feeder named Minho—did you see that name in any of the lists?”

Minhyun blinks. “Yes, I remember following that name through a few of the wills.”

“I’m positive he’s the centre of all of this.” The centre… and maybe to compromise, they can implicate him and solely him in what’s going on. There’s no doubt he and Minhyun have to inform Boa about their findings, but Jonghyun can do his best to minimize the collateral damage, limit the culprit to just Minho and maybe Boy as his accomplice if they have to. He can ignore the nagging feeling at the back of his mind insisting that it’s bigger than that.

If he has to do this, Jonghyun will do it his way: minimize the casualties and do his best to save as many people as he can. “Warn Hyunmin, but don’t say anything to Boa. I don’t want to bring this case to her until we have more solid proof on this guy.”

“It’s your call,” Minhyun says, raising his hands in surrender. “I’ll trust your judgement and follow you.” He stands and straightens the pile of papers into a tidy stack. “I don’t know if it matters, but I don’t want this to blow up any more than you do.” His words, his empathy, is genuine. “I get it and I don’t want these feeders to get hurt any more than they already have been.”

“It matters.” It reminds Jonghyun that Minhyun isn’t like the rest and puts his heart at ease. It reminds him that Minhyun hasn’t changed fundamentally, that deep down he’s the same. It reminds him that he can trust Minhyun to have his back even during tough situations and decisions. And it reminds him that when they close this case they can talk about a future together and, for the first time, Jonghyun feels optimistic about it.

Maybe he can really get Minhyun back.

 

* * *

 

> Pickdale Warehouse, 9pm, March 28.  
>  Be there alone and unarmed.

_He’s taking a dangerous gamble._

_Minki would call him an idiot. Dongho would second that. Nayoung has already gone on the record to say whatever he’s planning is a bad idea, but she agrees to help Jonghyun with it anyway. He feeds her a story about the Sswaegipul coven abducting humans to sell in the Buyuk Enclave and she gets Kahi to approve a bust at the Pickdale Warehouse—the apparent ‘pick up’ site._

_The kicker is that none of this is a lie; through careful observation and deduction, Jonghyun knows that Minhyun is a minor personal diversion in a larger human trafficking ring. He views it as taking two birds down with one stone. The plan is simple: Jonghyun will head in undercover, force a confession out of them, then give the signal for the BSA agents will swoop in to arrest the assholes._

_Their relation to Minhyun is a secret only he will keep. He just wants to keep Minhyun away from this, and that is the excuse he uses to convince Nayoung to remain quiet about the operation._

_When the day arrives, Jonghyun borrows one of Minhyun’s ritual masks and divine knives in order to pass off as him. He doesn’t think the Sswaegipul coven knows what he looks like, nor does he think they’ll look at him too closely. It doesn’t matter anyway; he just has to convince them long enough to divert the conversation to their trafficking ring before he can get the hell out of there._

_Minhyun is off performing a gut for a village and doesn’t know. He prefers it that way. Maybe he’ll tell him after everything is done and suffer his wrath then, but Jonghyun only wants to give him good news, not bad._

_The Pickdale Warehouse is situated on the outskirts of the city in a district typically run by the neutral Fae. The hairs on the back of his neck stand as he weaves through the tight alleys and reaches the door. Above it is the name of the building, most of its letters peeling off, but Jonghyun’s locator spell has never led him wrong._

_Two vampires await him inside: one is an older man with greying hair and wrinkles, but his eyes are scarlet and skin the color of the moon outside. The other is a young woman who looks nervous and keeps checking her watch. She spots Jonghyun first and hisses in his direction, showing teeth. “So the Hwang brat actually showed up,” she says, and Jonghyun heaves in internal sigh of relief that she bought his disguise for now._

_Still, he sticks to the shadows. “You didn’t give me a choice.”_

_“There’s always a choice,” the older vampire says. His voice is low and gravelly, filled with decades worth smouldering anger. “Your mother knew that when she cursed us.”_

_“Your problem is with my mother, not me,” Jonghyun replies. The spells on his skin alert him to three other vampires hiding nearby. According to the official records, the Sswaegipul coven has less than thirty members. Even assuming they dedicated a quarter of their people to this operation, that leaves some unaccounted for. “I don’t have anything against you.”_

_“We don’t have anything against you either,” the older man says. Faster than Jonghyun’s eyes can track, he’s standing in front of him, blocking his path forward. A different vampire appears behind him, cutting off his potential escape route. Jonghyun forces himself to be very still as others appear and form a circle around him to effectively pen him inside. “But going after your mother will do nothing. Death is too merciful a punishment for her.”_

_“So you want to kill me to hurt her? It won’t work.” Jonghyun only knows a little of Minhyun’s history with his parents. He knows Minhyun still keeps in contact with his sister, but he had a falling out with the rest of his family years ago over something. They expelled him from the clan and took away his right to be a shaman. The BSA negotiated but… they can’t repair a broken relationship._

_“Oh.” The older vampire sounds surprised by his statement, and Jonghyun feels a stab of vindication until he bursts into laughter. The other vampires join in until all Jonghyun can hear are their mocking chuckles. “We’re not going to kill you.” He leans forward so that his eyes are boring into Jonghyun’s, rooting him in place. “We will turn you into a vampire, starve you until you’re a mindless monster, and set you lose in your mother’s precious village so you can drain it dry.”_

_Jonghyun tucks his trembling arms into his sleeves and takes a step back, but ends up running into the vampire directly behind him. “You can’t,” he says, feeling around for the signal charm he slipped up his sleeve before he came inside. Forget the confession and forget waiting. He needs to get out of here now. “You can’t—because I’m not Hwang Minhyun.”_

_“I know that,” the man says swiftly. “I know what you are, witch.” Jonghyun watches in horror as he holds up a talisman he recognizes well—a magic dampening device powerful enough to cover a five mile radius. His fingers find the charm and he mutters out the desperate spell, but nothing happens._

_He’s trapped._

_“You won’t get him,” he blurts out in a last-ditch attempt to do something. “You won’t get Minhyun. He knows nothing about this.”_

_The man gestures for his fellow vampires to grab Jonghyun. “We’ll see about that,” he says, grinning, and the last thing Jonghyun sees before someone shoves a bag over his head in the sight of his perfectly white, perfectly sharpened teeth._

 

* * *

 

While Minhyun is away, Jonghyun returns to the humans’ ghetto to search for the weapons supplier and find proof to corroborate their theory about the use of holy water. None of the merchants are present, but he does ask around about Minho and the Boy and learns a little bit.

Like how Minho arrived out of the blue about three or four months ago, how he’s been moved to a new house every time one of his masters dies, how he is a bringer of change and revolution—the last statement is spoken with reverence and hope. One human resident of the ghetto credits him with bringing the weapons into the enclave and another just says cryptically that he is an angel. These people admire him. Many of them would do anything for him because they believe he has the means to change things.

Jonghyun’s guilt intensifies. He doesn’t want to take that from any of them.

Boy is a different story. A long time feeder and resident, he used to be the only feeder of a kind-hearted vampire. The two lived as ‘companions’ until the vampire died, but in his will he set Boy free. With nowhere to go, he came and lived in the ghetto for a while before he was caught by auctioneers on the main streets and sold at the block to his current master. The woman who tells him all this finishes with how horrible Boy’s new owner is how she wishes Minho would go after him next.

Jonghyun walks away with no doubt in his mind that Minho and Boy are working together. From what he’s learned, the only reason Minho has credibility is because of Boy’s recommendation and support. He was the originally the one with respect in the ghetto, and he used to to propel Minho into the spotlight. But for what? A promise that Minho would eventually kill his master for him?

Lost in his thoughts, he’s trying to fit his key into the lock when he hears a sound behind him. Jonghyun turns a second too late to see the blond vampire he and Minhyun met on their first day here—Boy’s horrible master—standing behind him. Jonghyun is ready to bow in acknowledgement (reminding himself that he is posing as a feeder) and turn back when he realizes that the vampire is not just passing through. He’s studying Jonghyun like he’s some kind of an exotic animal or a science experiment.

“Your blood must be real fucking tasty,” the blond vampire says conversationally, as if he’s discussing the weather. He runs his tongue over his teeth and grins. “Lord Minhyun seems overly attached to you. He hasn’t even visited the markets for a new feeder.”

Jonghyun knows that tone. Knows he can’t trust it, at the very least. “Excuse me,” he says, turning the key. The lock finally clicks open and he attempts to sneak inside, but the vampire edges closer and snakes a hand out, his steely grip wrapping around Jonghyun’s wrist. He tries to twist out of his grip, but the vampire is too strong for him.

Unlike Minhyun, his skin is icy cold.

The blessed silver knife he bought from the stall in the ghetto is still in his pocket. With his free hand, Jonghyun tries to reach for it, but the blond vampire is faster, darting out to grab it as well and trapping him in place. “I think I’ll take a little taste,” he says, bringing his nose too close to Jonghyun’s skin and inhaling. “I want to know what’s so special about you.”

“Let g—” Jonghyun fights to keep the whimper out of his voice but fails. He never wanted to be trapped in this kind of a position again. At the mercy of an unknown vampire who wants nothing but his blood. He casts around his mind for a spell, but panic jumbles his thoughts up and renders him defenseless.

The vampire opens his mouth, but before he can bite, Minhyun is there, snarling. He snatches Jonghyun’s wrist from the vampire’s grip, sending the blond flying into the wall. Jonghyun hears a sickening thud as the vampire’s head hits the wall, but his eyes are trained on Minhyun, whose gaze is… alien and unfamiliar. Jonghyun thought he was used to looking into his red eyes now, but this is different. He thinks he can see real madness in them.

“Minhyun,” Jonghyun breathes out his name.

Minhyun doesn’t seem to hear him. Letting out a low growl, he brings Jonghyun’s wrist to his mouth and—

Pain explodes behind his eyes as Minhyun’s teeth dig into his veins. Jonghyun swallows the cry that threatens to break out of his mouth since he can see the blond vampire climb to his feet out of the corner of his eyes, but he can’t stop his knees from buckling. Jonghyun uses his free hand to prop himself up against the wall and grits his teeth as the endorphins kick in the longer Minhyun drinks. Pain gives way to intense pleasure shooting up his spine, whispering to him to give in, give his everything to Minhyun—

He hates this part of feeding the most; vampires convincing their prey that they want this. Get bitten enough and you can end up addicted. Conditioned.

Minhyun doesn’t spare Jonghyun a glance as he drinks, instead making eye contact with the other vampire the whole time. They’re locked in some kind of a power struggle Jonghyun can’t make sense of. When he finally lets go, he swallows audibly, blood dripping down his chin, Jonghyun’s wrist still in his grip. “Mine,” he hisses, feral. “This one is mine.”

“Y—yes,” the vampire says. “I’m sorry, Lord Minhyun. I apologize. I didn’t mean to—”

Ignoring his apologies, Minhyun wrenches Jonghyun inside the apartment and slams the door behind him. Even in the relative safety of their apartment, Minhyun continues to hold onto him until Jonghyun clears his throat and Minhyun snaps out of his daze, dropping Jonghyun’s hand as it burns him. Trembling, he brings his hands to his face and winces at the streak of red on pale skin—Jonghyun’s blood.

“I—sorry, I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m—” Minhyun repeats the same thing over and over again, His hands are shaking. His whole body shakes as he rocks on his heels, apologizing a thousand times.

Jonghyun doesn’t say anything. Cradling his arm to his chest, he presses his thumb over the puncture holes from Minhyun’s teeth. They’re still bleeding; his fingers come away scarlet and he wipes them off on his jacket. He doesn’t think he can bring himself to speak right now. The shock from the bite is slow to wear off. Objectively, he can understand why Minhyun did what he did. The situation was tense, the blond vampire would’ve bitten Jonghyun otherwise, and it was a way to assert his authority.

But Minhyun bit him. _Drank from him._ A strangled laugh escapes from his mouth. This is the stuff of nightmares. Jonghyun has thought about it more than once, waking up sweat drenched in his bed, reminding himself that Minhyun isn’t—but he did, and Jonghyun is still standing here alive and relatively unharmed save from the dull ache in his wrist.

“I’m sorry,” Minhyun says again.

Jonghyun clears his throat. “You had to do it,” he says. His voice sounds hollow, as if he can’t quite believe what he’s saying. “I’m not angry.” Part of it is true; the characteristics of Minhyun’s bite were different from the previous few bites he suffered. Their bites were rough, like they were trying to wrench the blood from his skin and deliberately trying to hurt him, but Minhyun was restrained.

Minhyun still looks crushed, like his world is falling down around him. “It’s not okay. I told myself I would never—this was my boundary, Jonghyun.” Distress overtakes his features. “This was how I pretended I wasn’t truly a monster. Purposefully hurting the person I love—what if I hadn’t stopped?”

“But you did.” He did just in time when most vampires don’t have the awareness to… or don’t care enough to. He stopped and pulled himself away. None of his nightmares ended in this scenario, with Jonghyun as anything but prey. “You stopped and I’m okay and nothing terrible happened.”

“This is pretty fucking terrible.” Minhyun barks out a laugh. “How can I justify hurting you when I know how you feel about vampires and blood drinking? I broke your trust.”

“You didn’t.” Jonghyun had told Minhyun once that he didn’t trust him, but that wasn’t really true. He did trust Minhyun with the important things: to know his boundaries and to not hurt him. Swallowing, he rubs his wrist again. “I knew you wouldn’t take more than you needed, and you're not in the business of inflicting pain on purpose. You didn’t break my trust. You just… proved that I can be safe around you.”

“I bit you.”

“I said safe _around_ you, not safe _from_ you.” Minhyun has had ample chances to hurt him but never has, and nothing about him looks monstrous in Jonghyun’s eyes. “But that too.” He just looks… like Minhyun. He just looks like Hwang Minhyun, the person Jonghyun fell in love with. The person he’s still in love with.

He’s in love with Hwang Minhyun, but the truth is, he never stopped. He’s always been in love with him. Jonghyun closes his eyes. “Did you mean that you said?” he asks quietly, before Minhyun can speak. “When you said I was the person you… love. Do you mean it?”

Minhyun is taken aback by his question, but there is no hesitation or uncertainty in his answer. “I do mean it. I’ve always been in love with you and I always will be.”

Jonghyun’s wrist still hurts and some instinct in him is screaming that all of this is a bad idea, but he’s tired of pushing Minhyun away and pretending he doesn’t feel something for him. Minhyun used to be a part of every single aspect of his life, and cutting him out of that hurt more than anything the vampires who tortured him could ever do to him. He’s tired of being noble and afraid and punishing himself for something that happened in the past or something that could happen.

Right now, he just wants to do the selfish thing for once and kiss Minhyun.

Jonghyun stares at him for a long minute, then takes a step forward. Then another. Then one more until they’re pressed up right against each other. His hands are streaked with blood and there’s another splotch of it on Minhyun’s cheek. They stand there suspended in silence until Jonghyun makes the move first, pulling him down into a soft kiss. Minhyun’s lips still taste of copper and salt, but Jonghyun doesn’t care about that when he’s been thinking about this—dreaming about this—for the past five years. He never thought he’d get the chance to kiss him again but it feels like coming home.

Minhyun is the first to pull away. Jonghyun thinks he’s going to say something sweet until he blurts out, “I didn’t accidentally catch you with my teeth, did I?”

“What? No, no.” Jonghyun rubs his mouth with the back of his hand sheepishly. He suposes that’s a thing they have to worry about now or… for the future. If there is a future and this isn’t a one-time thing because of the stressful situation and close proximity they’re in. What if it is just because of the situation? What if Minhyun only kissed him back because he felt he had to?

Minhyun swipes his tongue over his bottom lip and glances down. “Give me your wrist,” he says, and Jonghyun complies without asking why. He runs his tongue over the puncture wounds and Jonghyun shivers at the contact, making Minhyun laugh as he drops his wrist and steps back. Jonghyun watches the wound close due to the vampire venom. It looks like a days-old injury within a few minutes.

His mouth quirks up in a smile. “Thank you.” Falling silent after that, he looks down, equal parts embarrassed and confused. He doesn’t know if these means something… or if he should interpret it like that. Jonghyun doesn’t know if he’s allowed to have expectations, but—

As if he can tell what Jonghyun is thinking, Minhyun puts his hands on Jonghyun’s shoulders and forces him to look up. “Hey. Don’t you dare start regretting this or spiral on me. Because I don’t think it was a mistake. I love you, I love you, I love you, and I’ll say it as much as you need me to.”

“I’m not spiralling,” he insists, flushing. “But I… love you too. Did all those years, but I was scared of admitting it. I was scared you were gone, replaced by some monstrous version of you. But you weren’t. You’re still you.”

“I’m not gone. I’m here.” Minhyun leans down to press his forehead against Jonghyun’s. “I came back for you.”

His eyes sting and he squeezes them shut. “I know you did.”

(He's known that for a while. Minhyun promised to return for him, and Minhyun keeps his promises). 


	6. vi. sixth blood

_I call to mind flatness and dampness; and then all is madness - the madness of a memory which busies itself among forbidden things._  
— **Edgar Allen Poe** , _The Pit and the Pendulum_

✩

Jonghyun wakes up with Minhyun’s head on his shoulder. They crashed on the couch after talking last night, too tired and unwilling to separate and go to bed. Forcing himself to get up off the couch now is a struggle. Jonghyun is tempted not to do anything at all, but his stomach keeps rumbling and prompts him to get up and head to the kitchen. Minhyun stirs a moment later, though Jonghyun suspects Minhyun was never actually asleep. “Making breakfast?” he asks. “Or lunch. Or dinner. I have no concept of time here.”

Chuckling, Jonghyun opens the fridge and takes out a couple of eggs and one of Minhyun’s blood pouches. “I don’t either but I’ll just go for what I know how to make.” Pulling a package of ramen out of the cupboard, he grins. “Ramen with fried egg.”

“Sounds good,” Minhyun says, somewhat mournfully. He grabs the blood pouch and glares at it. “I miss real food. I’m tired of blood.” The throws the pouch back on the counter. “Speaking of which, yours tasted awful yesterday.”

Jonghyun pauses what he’s doing to turn to Minhyun. “What?”

“Witch blood. It’s supposed to taste good, but yours was just _disgusting._ ” He pulls a face at the memory.

Oh, right. “It’s because of this thing I bought at the human ghetto. Some hedge witch was selling a mixture to flavor a feeder’s blood and I tried to replicate the theory to make my blood taste bad to vampires.” He shrugs. “I guess it w—oh shit.”

“What’s wrong?”

“The… the way feeders have been killing vampires,” Jonghyun says, his voice rising. “It's in their blood.”

Minhyun leans forward. “Explain.”

“It has to be,” Jonghyun says excitedly. He wants to jump. This is it, the missing piece. “Feeders can’t overpower a vampire physically, but if their blood is poisonous to their masters, then they don’t even need to be able to do anything to them. The unsuspecting vampire drinks from them and dies, and then the rest swoop in to cover it up and make it look like they died in a different way.” Jonghyun’s pot is boiling over but he doesn’t care, too focused on his theory. “What kind of blood is poisonous to vampires?”

Minhyun’s face grows whiter than it already is. “I mean… it’s possible, yes.” He grips the edge of the counter and scrunches his nose up as he thinks. “We can’t drink blood from anything dead, like corpses, other vampires, and zombies.”

“I’m pretty sure Minho is none of those.”

“And angel blood,” Minhyun adds slowly. “Angel blood would kill any vampire. But that’s all I know of.”

Angel blood… something pulls at the back of Jonghyun’s mind. One of the humans he spoke to the day before called Minho an angel. Jonghyun assumed he meant it symbolically, but what if he didn’t? What if Minho was… not an actual angel, but had angel blood coursing through his veins and used that to kill the vampires he was passed to?

“Nephilim,” Jonghyun says finally. “I think Minho might be a nephilim—half human, half angel.” He doesn’t really remember most of what he read about them and tries to wrack his brains for any information that might be relevant. “I don’t think he’s the son of an angel or anything, but there were rituals to make someone into a nephilim. I heard a few rumors of it at the academy but nothing concrete.”

“If someone made him into this nephilim thing, then, why did he come to Efes? Or why was he sent here?” Minhyun trails off and answers his own question. “It was for Seokhoon. It began with him; this Minho person must have come to Efes for him and that… that Jewel of Qayin must have been why.”

Jonghyun abandons all pretense of cooking. “But why would he stick around?” That’s what confuses him. If he came for Seokhoon and the jewel, why would Minho stay? Just to be passed down from one vampire to another, being fed on, watching them die, and the cycle continues. But what is the end goal?

Minhyun frowns. “Maybe his rescue never came. Maybe he saw how badly feeders were treated here and wanted to make a difference?”

Jonghyun doesn’t know if it really matters. Once they bring him in, they can interrogate Minho for as long as they want. But he wonders if this is enough to go on. He knows Boa likely won’t care how sold their evidence is, but he doesn’t want to implicate someone until he’s absolutely sure. Thought Jonghyun is sure Minho is behind this, and he thinks their theory is pretty solid.

Minhyun voices what he’s thinking. “Should we take this information to Boa now?” He broaches the subject carefully, uncertainty leaking into his voice. “Should we arrest Minho?”

Jonghyun shakes his head. “We don’t have any jurisdiction here.” Any arrest they try to make won’t stick. He bites his lip and folds his hand behind his back. “I could always talk to Minho. See if I can get him to confess and then turn him in. And then we can get the hell out of—”

“That is a stupid plan,” Minhyun cuts in. “ _Really_ stupid plan there, Jonghyun. What would ever possess you to go talk to a literal criminal?”

“I think he’s only dangerous to vampires.”

“You said he was angry with you.”

“But he thinks I’m a feeder.” Jonghyun winces as he thinks back to his conversation with Minho. “A vampire loving feeder, but regardless. At the very least, I could distract him and make sure he doesn’t hurt anyone while you take our findings to Boa.”

Minhyun shakes his head. “You’re not a feeder, though. You’re not disposable. This is fucking dangerous, Jonghyun. You can’t—“

“Minhyun, this is my job.”

“But it’s not _my_ job to watch you run recklessly into danger, you fucking idiot.” Minhyun sounds stressed as he grabs his arms and holds him in place. “I can’t risk anything happening to you. I can’t risk losing you, Jonghyun, not when everything—” He breaks off, but Jonghyun can guess what he’s thinking. Not when I finally got you back. “I only took this case to protect you. That’s it. Nothing else matters.”

Jonghyun closes his eyes. He knows that Minhyun wants to protect him. He knows that Minhyun probably doesn’t want a repeat of what happened in the past. Jonghyun doesn’t have a good track record with going off on his own. But he knows he can do this. “You asked me if I trusted you. Do you trust in me?”

“Don’t ask me that,” Minhyun sighs and covers his eyes. “You know I do.”

“Then trust in me now. I know what I’m doing.” When Minhyun doesn’t respond, Jonghyun reaches up to press his lips against his, taking care to avoid his teeth. “Go tell Boa what we found. I’ll be with Minho.” He fishes an amulet out of his pocket and presses it into Minyun’s hands. “This locator charm should bring you to us once you’re done.”

“I don’t like this,” Minhyun says, but he lets go of Jonghyun and rubs his nose. “But you’re right. This is your job and you can take care of yourself.” He attempts to give Jonghyun a confident, reassuring smile, but Jonghyun can see the worry underneath it, the fear of losing Jonghyun again.

And the truth is, Jonghyun doesn’t know how to reassure him because he’s afraid as well. But he knows he has to do this. Giving Minhyun’s hands a reassuring squeeze, Jonghyun grabs a handful and charms and sticks them into his pocket before heading out. He only hopes they can wrap this up quickly and that Boa will believe them when they tell her that Minho—and only Minho—is to blame.

He has a lot to hope for. But Jonghyun feels comfortable with that for once in a long, long time. He can bring himself to trust in hope.

 

* * *

  

_He burns._

_Jonghyun’s head hangs low, his neck too weak to support its weight. His entire body sags towards the ground, held up only by the chains bolted to the wall. The manacles dig into his wrist and rub his skin raw, but the discomfort from those is minimal compared to the ache in his arms. Every time he moves them—even thinks about moving them—stabbing pain shoots up them._

_His skin is slick with blood; it stains the floor as well, making it difficult to stand. Blood and chunks of flesh the Sswaegipul coven carved off to to render his tattoos useless lie there like some kind of a nightmare. They’re supposed to make him stronger, faster, heal quicker, but what the vampires haven’t scraped off have been slashed at so many times they no longer work._

_But physical pain would still be bearable if he weren’t burning from the inside out. His neck burns with the pain of dozens of bites, the vampire venom in his bloodstream turning every breath into agony. The vampires don’t come in here to feed for the blood. They do it to hurt him, ripping his veins open and leaving him to heal on his own. And just when the bleeding stops, they break him apart all over again._

_Jonghyun has lost track of how long he’s been here. All he knows is that he wants it to end now. Death would be preferable to being kept alive for… whatever. He can’t think through the haze of pain clouding his mind. But they want something from him… he just to figure out what… he needs to—_

_The door to his cell opens. The older-looking vampire steps inside, his shoes clacking against the stone floor. He comes to a stop in front of Jonghyun and grabs a fistful of his hair, lifting his head up to check if he’s still conscious. When he sees Jonghyun’s eyes tracking his movements, he clicks his tongue. “Still kicking?” He doesn’t wait for a response. “Tell me, was it worth it?” he asks, shaking Jonghyun’s head when he doesn’t say anything. “Trying to fool us by pretending to be him? Did you think it would work?”_

_Mustering up all of his courage and energy, he spits a mouthful of blood at the vampire. “Screw you.”_

_The vampire casually slams Jonghyun’s face into his knee. “Disgusting vermin.” He wipes his face with his free hand. “I hate people who try and trick my coven. I would have killed you just for that if it wasn’t for your delicious blood.” He runs his nose along Jonghyun’s exposed neck and inhales. “But we have some use for you still. Your knight in shining armor will come for you.”_

_Jonghyun wants to throw up. “He won’t.” Minhyun can’t come for him or all this will have been for nothing. Jonghyun made sure he doesn’t know anything about this. He’ll assume it’s a bureau-related issue and let them handle it instead of going rogue._

_Letting go of his head, the vampire laughs and leaves. “Idiots in love are always predictable,” he calls over his shoulder. “We’ll get him yet.”_

_Jonghyun prays to whatever God is up there that they won’t._

_Days pass in cloud of pain with no respite. A couple of vampires come in to drink from him, pulling his head back to bare his throat and drain him until he passes out. They come back just as he begins to heal to drink again, plunging him into fire and icy water, making him want to scream himself hoarse, but he can’t even open his mouth._

_Jonghyun starts to think it’s never going to end, that it’ll continue on like this for the rest of his life—however long or short that is—when the door to his room opens and someone is shoved inside. He tenses in preparation for a bite, intending to flail, but when he raises his head to catch a glimpse of the person’s face, he lets out a strangled gasp. Minhyun… but it can’t be. It’s a dream._

_He’s dreaming. He’s hallucinating. Minhyun can’t be here._

_“Jonghyun…” Minhyun’s voice is heartbreaking. “What did they do to you?” He crawls over on all fours and brushes back Jonghyun’s sweat-dampened hair, cupping his face and pressing his forehead against Jonghyun’s. “I’m going to get out of here,” Minhyun chokes out. “I am.”_

_“You can’t,” Jonghyun gurgles out. “You—I—you can’t.” Minhyun shouldn’t be here. Jonghyun was… Jonghyun was going to keep him safe from these people, stop him from ending up like this. “How did you—”_

_“Did you really think I wouldn’t find you once I heard you were taken?” He can feel Minhyun’s hands tremble and hears the strain in his voice as he tries to sound normal. “I pieced it all together before I got a message from this coven saying they had you. They promised they’d let you go if I handed myself in.”_

_“Why didn’t… the bureau…”_

_“There was no time.” Minhyun laughs, resigned. “It’s already done. I made the trade before I could really think it through. But they wanted me from the beginning: the eldest Hwang son so they could carry out their petty revenge on my parents.” He touches Jonghyun’s face. “Jokes on them; they won’t care.” Minhyun’s face falls for a fraction of a second before resuming back to normal. “But none of that matters as long as these assholes let you go.”_

_“They won’t. I know their—” Talking hurts. Jonghyun breaks off and coughs._

_“Hey, hey. Don’t worry about that.” Minhyun holds his face between both his hands and gives him a kiss, just a gentle peck on the lips. “Do you remember, I said I’d take care of you because you always forget to take care of yourself and that’s what I’m doing. You’re always so busy saving the world, but sometimes you need saving too.”_

_“Don’t give me that.”_

_“Don’t give me that.” Minhyun opens his mouth to say more, but the door opens and a number of familiar vampires shuffle inside and grab Minhyun by the shoulders to wrench him away._

_“Time’s up,” one of them hisses. “We kept our end of the deal. Now you keep yours.”_

_Minhyun tries to fight them off, but there are too many and they’re all too strong. “You said you would let him go. I want to see him get to safety first.” Jonghyun strains against his restraints to get to Minhyun, to do something, but Minhyun shakes his head, telling him to be silent. “Let him go,” he repeats._

_One of the vampires huffs but directs a red-haired one to free Jonghyun from his shackles. Instead of climbing to his feet, he slumps down to the floor, his limbs too exhausted to support him. “Get up,” the red-haired vampire growls, aiming a swift kick to his stomach. Jonghyun doesn’t even feel it anymore, just doubles up coughing and closes his eyes. Making a noise of disgust in the back of his throat, the vampire hoists him up and drags him to the door._

_As he passes by Minhyun, Jonghyun tries to speak. “Minhyun, I—”_

_“Don’t come after me, Jonghyun. Don’t try and look for him.” He doesn’t give Jonghyun a chance to protest before continuing urgently. “I will come back to you no matter what it takes, okay? Just wait for me and don’t to anything stupid.” Then, more gently, holding back tears, he adds, “I love you.”_

_Jonghyun wants to cry. Everything hurts, but the growing distance between them hurts even more. He was supposed to protect Minhyun, not the other way around. Things were never supposed to end like this. He wants to turn back time so that none of this—but it’s too late. “I love you too,” he manages to say split before the door slams shut on Minhyun’s face._

_The vampire dumps him a few miles away from the bureau headquarters. With trembling hands, Jonghyun manages to send up a location spell written in his own blood that brings some agents to his location. They rush him to the medical facility once they verify his identity and bombard him with a million questions. Jonghyun is unresponsive, answering none of them._

_All he think about is Minhyun’s face before the door slammed shut between them. Minhyun was smiling, as if the last image he wanted to leave Jonghyun with was of his happy expression. Though he doesn’t know why, it gave him the sense that this was the last time they would ever see each other._

_Jonghyun prays he’s wrong about that._

* * *

 

He casts a tracking spell for Minho when he leaves the house, but like the listening charm before, it takes him through a couple of streets before fizzling out prematurely. Jonghyun wonders if there’s something in Minho’s blood that stops his magic from working, or if he has some kind of a magic damper on him. Either way, the spell is a dead end. He switches tactics and casts it for Boy instead, reasoning that he can then lead him to Minho.

The spell leads him not to the ghetto as expected, but to a deserted parlor. Heavy velvet curtains line the windows and there’s a layer of dust over everything. Jonghyun tries to hold in a sneeze as he weaves through the tables and finally comes to a stop in front of a bar counter. Boy stands on the other side, and the spell lights up before fading into nothing. He doesn’t look surprised at Jonghyun’s approach. In fact, he seems like he was waiting for Jonghyun to come.

Jonghyun gears himself up for an ugly confrontation when Boy raises an eyebrow. “You got our note,” he says. “Good. You came swiftly.”

Boy thinks he came here because of a note. Jonghyun doesn’t correct him. “What do you want from me?” he asks warily, circling around the bar. Boy turns with him. Sneaking a charm out from behind his back, he casts a truth spell over the area under his breath.

“We have your master,” Boy says.

Jonghyun doesn’t have to ask who ‘we’ are. The truth spell confirms Boy’s words, They have Minhyun. They _actually_ have Minhyun and he can’t fathom how they could have grabbed him. “How did you—”

Boy hesitates, just for a fraction of a second. “He… agreed to come with us when we said we had you in captivity.” The expression on his face is almost apologetic. Jonghyun grinds his teeth in frustration. Of course Minhyun would fall for that, no question asked. “Minho asked me to bring you to him.”

“Or what?” Jonghyun asks, not even wanting to hear the answer.

Boy just smiles enigmatically. “I think it’s obvious.” He holds out a pair of silver cuffs and waits for Jonghyun to make a decision.

It doesn’t take long for him to stick his arms out. Boy slaps the cuff on him; the restraints are a familiar weight and he goes slack at the sensation of them weighing down his arms. Jonghyun fights to keep himself from flashing back to unhappier times. At least Boy and Minho aren’t dangerous to him, he thinks, but do have Minhyun. And they hate vampires like him.

Jonghyun doesn’t resist as Boy leads him further into parlor. The entrance to a cellar is disguised behind a pin up poster in the storage room. Boy shoves him down the flight of stairs and he falls, his head slamming against the floor. The last thing he hears before everything goes dark is the sound of Minhyun screaming his name.


	7. vii. seventh blood

_Perhaps that’s what all human relationships boiled down to: Would you save my life? or would you take it?_  
— **Toni Morrison** , _Song of Solomon_

✩

He wakes up in a damp cellar hours later, heading spinning as the room slowly comes into focus. Jonghyun has done this before; the sight of the room is too familiar and terror hits Jonghyun square in the face before he can try and clamp down on it. Old memories resurface, threatening to drag him down into the dark depths of his mind and turn him into prey once more. It takes effort to remind himself that this isn’t the same situation as last time—not the same place or the same captors. Though even when he manages to calm himself though, he has a harder time convincing himself he’ll get out of here safely.

His eyes take a little time to adjust to the darkness; there are no windows in this cellar and the only source of light comes from the crack between the door and the wall at the top of the stairs. It’s not enough to shed light on anything, but if he squints he can make out a figure slumped against the wall beside him. It doesn’t take long to figure out who the figure is.

“Minhyun?” he whispers. Minhyun doesn’t move; the only response Jonghyun gets from him is a groan of pain. Jonghyun angles his neck to study the chains. They look like blessed silver, which would explain why Minhyun is incapacitated and clearly suffering. “Minhyun, can you move at all?”

Another groan. Jonghyun tugs on his own restraints but they hold fast, keeping them both trapped. Fear crawls up his spine like a thousand small ants, slowly but steadily. He never wanted to be stuck in his position again in his life. To end up like this with some he cares about it worse than he could’ve ever imagined. When he was in the clutches of the Sswaegipul coven before, he didn’t see the point in fighting his captivity. With Minhyun trapped alongside him, passivity is not an option. Jonghyun is desperate to get them both out of here alive.

He tries to sense around for any charms hidden on his person that he might be able to activate. They all lie dormant, probably due to the blessed silver chains holding him. Jonghyun attempts to cast a spell under his breath to track the location of Minho and Boy, but that doesn’t work either. Biting back a curse, he returns to pulling on his chains and makes no progress.

 _Just stay calm,_ he tells himself. _The only way you can try to escape is if you stay calm._

Jonghyun is pulled out of his thoughts as Minhyun stirs and opens his eyes. He looks sickly in what little light they have, reminding him of a person on their deathbed. It must be the silver sapping away all his energy and vitality. “Jonghyun?” he says finally. “They really had you?”

“I—” He wants to say no, but he doesn’t want Minhyun to think he failed somehow, that there was no reason for him to turn himself in. It’s Jonghyun’s fault anyway. If he hadn’t insisted on going off alone… of course Minhyun was going to fall victim to any demands when he was worried about Jonghyun. “It doesn’t matter. They outmaneuvered us.”

Raising his head, Minhyun rattles his chains to test their strength. The silver digs into his skin, drawing a hiss of pain out of him. “I… I can’t get out of these. I feel powerless.” His voice breaks on the last syllable. “I can’t—”

“It’s okay. Just stay calm.” Jonghyun tries to placate him as best he can, though he doesn’t know who he’s trying to comfort more: Minhyun or himself. “We can get out of this if—”

His words are cut short by an outpouring of light spilling into the cellar from the open door. Minhyun cringes away from it but he can’t get far enough; his skin reddens, the rash spreading over his face and crawling down his neck. Minho strides in with Boy following close behind. The door slams shut as they descend the stairs, but Boy lights a candle to give them vision in the room. Jonghyun tracks his movements warily. Until he knows what they want, he intended to remain on high alert.

“Glad to see you’ve woken up,” Minho grins. He sounds like he’s asking an old friend about the weather. “I hope you guys are enjoying your accommodations. You know how hard it is to get silver in here?”

“You should have left it on the outside then,” Minhyun croaks out. Minho ignores him. He’s looking at Jonghyun and only Jonghyun.

“Why did you bring us here?” Jonghyun asks. “What do you want from us?”

“I think it’s pretty clear,” Minho says. The firelight casts a harsh glow on his features. “We ran into your vampire buddy on the way to the main house and had to act. You understand, right? We can’t have you running to Boa and exposing us.”

“What if we say we won’t tell her anything?”

“See, that’s the problem.” Minho comes to stand right in front of Jonghyun and peers down to make eye contact. His iris’ are brown, but ringed with gold. Jonghyun wonders if that’s a mark of the nephilim. “I don’t believe you.” He taps Jonghyun’s cheek and Jonghyun tries to lunge at him, but Minho sidesteps him easily and laughs. The sound is grating to his ears and Jonghyun wants to cover them. “You already know way too much.”

“But I don’t know _anything_ ,” Jonghyun fires back. “I don’t know what you’re doing or why you’re doing or how you even got here. All I know is that you’re killing vampires, but frankly, I don’t care as long as you leave this vampire alone.” He jerks his head towards Minhyun.

Minho crosses his arms over his chest. “I don’t think he sees it that way.” Minhyun is too exhausted and hurt to retaliate. All he can do is stare at Minho with disgust in his eyes. “Do you really want to know that badly, Jonghyun? Do you want the whole story?” Jonghyun’s tempted to say no if it would get them out of here, but when he glances over at Minhyun, the man shakes his head slightly. Jonghyun reads the message loud and clear: let Minho go on.

“I like storytime,” Jonghyun says blithely.

“Oh, you’re going to like this one.” Minho begins to pace with his hand clasped behind his back. “You know what fucks up vampires, big time? Angel blood. My guild thought they had the answer to creating a weapon that vampires wouldn’t see coming when they got their hands on some. But every good weapon needs to be field tested. I was the oldest and one of the first. Seemed obvious to send me out for the test run.”

While Minho talks, Boy remains rooted to his spot holding the candle, face coming into and going out of focus with the flickering flame. His eyes pass over Minhyun, then Jonghyun, and for a second the expression on his face looks sympathetic.

“They decided to send me on a job to kill some vampire named Seokhoon and steal a gem from him. Someone was willing to pay a lot of it, and we’d get a chance to see if this thing in my blood actually killed anyone. Two for one combo.”

Seokhoon and the Jewel of Qayin. So they were right; it did begin with him. He’d feel vindicated were it not for the position they were in. “Why didn’t you leave after that?”

“I was supposed to have an extract lined up and everything, but after his death, security tightened and they hit a snag. Told me to stay put for a couple of days. Meanwhile, I got passed down to another vampire like that set of your grandmother’s precious china.” Minho pauses in his pacing as a manic grin spreads over his face. “But once you have the blood of an angel, you can’t turn it off. The next bloodsucker who tried to drink from me also croaked. His feeders found me crouched in front of his body with a stake in my hand as I tried to cover it up, but instead of running to the nearest vampire, they thanked me and took me to the ghetto.”

Boy flinches but remains quiet.

“When the extraction team from my guild finally made it into the enclave, I handed off the jewel and blew them off. The people here needed me. They worshipped me for what I could do with my blood. They protected me so I decided to protect them too.”

“So you stayed to feel like a god,” Minhyun snarls, gathering up his energy to speak.

“A saviour,” Minho amends without turning around. “I was their salvation. I promised them I’d free them from all the vampires here and we’d build a new city for us humans on their corpses.”

“What about the good people you killed?” Minhyun asks. “The decent vampires, the ones who—”

Minho finally turns around to sneer at him. “No such thing as a good vampire, filth. Your feeder knows that, even if he’s too scared to tell you.” He turns back to Jonghyun. “Collateral damage. Even those who felt bad knew it was necessary.”

Jonghyun’s head hurts. “What’s the end game here for you? Just keep working through the whole coven while hoping no one catches on? And then the feeders naturally take over? But what about the higher ups, like Boa and her inner circle? You’ll never manage to kill them. Even if you did, you don’t think every other vampire coven wouldn’t roll in and take over an enclave full of feeders?” Minho’s face grows darker with each word. “Your plan was flawed from the beginning. Boa will find out. And when she finds you, she’ll make death seem like a pleasant sleep.”

“Shut the fuck up,” Minho snarls, but he looks pale and unsettled. “You don’t know—”

“No, you don’t have a plan. You thought it was enough to swoop in like a hero and kill all these vampires, but you’re just overconfident and drunk on your own ego. And now you’re going to get everyone killed.”

Minho’s fists connects with Jonghyun’s jaw. He bites his lip to keep from crying out in pain. “I don’t have to explain myself to you,” Minho scowls. “Fucking vampire lover.”

“I—” Jonghyun looks over at Minhyun, whose face is white as a sheet, teeth gritted in pain and eyes burning with hatred for Minho.”You don’t know what I am.” He’s the farthest thing from a vampire lover, or would call himself that were it not for Minhyun. But Minhyun is so much more than just a vampire. Besides, Minho and Boy still think Jonghyun is nothing but a feeder with an attachment to his vampire master. He’s willing to let them continue to believe that for now.

Minho’s face morphs into one of triumph. “You’re right; I don’t, which is why I can’t afford to let you live.” Instead of making a move towards Jonghyun, he stalks over to Minhyun’s prone form and lifts his chin up. Jonghyun watches in horror as Minho slips a knife out of his pocket and slashes his wrist open. Minhyun tries to resist, but he forces the blood into Minhyun’s mouth and makes him swallow before releasing him. Minhyun tries to cough as much of it out as he can, but it’s not enough.

“Drinking a full angel’s blood should be an instant death for vampires, but it’ll take a couple of hours for mine to kick in,” Minho says, ripping a scrap of fabric from his shirt to bandage his wrist. He grins, revealing crooked teeth. “Good for you that you’ll have a front seat view to the whole thing, eh?”

“You—” Minhyun is still coughing and Jonghyun feels like he’s going to be sick too. He never intended for this to happen. Why Minhyun?

“Don’t worry,” Minho laughs, making for the staircase. “You’ll go after him. I haven’t decided how yet but… like you said, I never have a plan.” Still laughing, he leaves the door open behind him. Boy follows, but not without throwing a conflicted glance over his shoulder. Jonghyun looks at him in desperation, begging him to do something, but he shuts the door and plunges them into darkness once more.

The only sounds Jonghyun can hear are Minhyun’s coughs and the frantic beating of his own heart.

 

* * *

 

Minhyun grows quiet after that, utterly spent. Jonghyun calls his name, but he doesn’t move or make a sound. He’s worried the blood has done its work already, though Minho said it would take a couple of hours. Which means Jonghyun has less time that that to somehow break out of his chains and help Minhyun. He doesn’t even know if that’s possible, but he has to try.

Closing his eyes, he tries to think. None of his spells are working due to the chains and he’s definitely not strong enough to rip them off the wall. He can feel the hilt of the knife of blessed silver digging into his skin. Jonghyun never took it out of his pockets earlier and neither Boy nor Minho thought to check him for weapons, but what good will it to? Its edges are blunt; it’s a weapon made to be used against vampires, not humans. And he can’t reach it anyway, so there’s no point in trying to use it.

Despair sinks into his bones. Jonghyun looks over at Minhyun. His chest is heaving as he sweats out venom, probably a side effect of the blood. He moans something out and Jonghyun has to strain his ears to hear it: “Help me,” whispered in a hopeless voice. Jonghyun chokes up.

“I will, Minhyun. I—”

Whatever he’s about to say is cut short by the door squeaking open. Light filters in, then quickly dissipates as the door slams shut. Jonghyun tenses, prepared for another unpleasant showdown as a figure comes down the stairs. But it’s not the confident posture Minho carries himself with. The figure looks small, as if it’s trying to blend into the shadows. With a click, the person lights a small lantern and brings it up to their face.

Jonghyun stifles his gasp. “Stay away from him,” he says, but Boy raises his free hand in a conciliatory gesture and maintains the distance between Minhyun and himself.

“I’m not here to hurt you,” he says soothingly.

“Then why are you here? To gloat?”

“To talk.”

Jonghyun is past talking. “Set me free first.” Boy doesn’t move. “I need to help Minhyun get that blood out of his system or he’s going to die. Please, just help me. You can chain me up afterwards—”

“I can’t do that.” Boy shakes his head. “You’re one of us,” he adds accusingly. “Why are you so desperate to save him? What did he tell you, that he loved you? That he’s going to turn you into a vampire? He’s lying. They all lie.” His voice shakes on the last sentence. Contrary to his words, he doesn’t sound sure of what he’s saying at all, and Jonghyun seizes on that.

“Minhyun never hurt me. He never hurt you or anyone. He cares—like your old master.” Boy stiffens at the mention of him. Jonghyun wracks his brain for the rest of the stories he’d gather. “Your old master looked after you, always treated you fairly. He loved you, and when he died he tried to set you free.”

“He…” Boy trails off and gazes into the distance. “He did. He was a good person.”

“Minho will kill vampires like him too. He’ll try to kill as many as he can, and then the vampires will retaliate by killing all of us. And then there will be carnage.” His frustration leaks out into his voice. “Could you watch him die in front of your eyes? Are you going to make me watch Minhyun die in front of mine?”

“I—” Boy looks uncertain. “It—”

“What would your old master think?”

Boy looks conflicted and turns away, his shoulders hunched. They shake with the force of keeping himself together. Jonghyun’s head sags as he whispers please again, his voice mixing with Minhyun’s laboured grunts of pain. It takes a long time for Boy to turn back to Jonghyun, his expression difficult to read. With agonizing slowness, he pulls something shiny out of his pocket and holds it out in his hands. It’s the key to their chains, and Jonghyun’s face lights up with hope as Boy throws it at his feet. “I can’t help you,” he says loudly, then adds in a quieter voice, “But I think I dropped my key.”

Without another word, he heads up the staircase. “I hope… you save your vampire friend,” he adds, just as he’s about to open the door. Jonghyun's mouths his thanks at him, but Boy waves it off. “It must be nice to have someone you care about this much.” His expression is mournful as he leaves.

A choked sob escapes Jonghyun’s mouth. _Thank God. Finally_. They have a chance.

 

* * *

 

He’s still chained to the wall, but the key is close enough, glinting in the darkness, that he can almost reach it. Jonghyun strains spends close to half an hour trying to get a hold of it. He’s painfully aware of the passage of time; the implications of taking too long are obvious as Minhyun begins to tremble with his eyes squeezed shut. The blood is slowly poisoning him and Jonghyun needs to get the hell out of here to help him before it’s too late.

He finally manages to grasp the key and immediately works on fitting it into the lock, but he fumbles the first few attempts, his sweaty palms getting in the way. Jonghyun refuses to give up, though. He works at the lock until it finally clicks open. The manacles fall to the ground with a dull thump and Jonghyun sinks to all fours and pants as relief courses through his body.

Jonghyun can’t get comfortable yet. Sweeping hair out of his face, he scrambles over to unlock Minhyun’s shackles and prepares to support his full weight as he teeters forward, unable to stand on his own two feet. He’s a lot heavier than Jonghyun expected; sinking to his knees along with Minhyun, he puts a hand on his forehead as it comes to rest on Jonghyun’s shoulders. Minhyun’s skin is feverish and coated in vampire venom, but it can do nothing to heal him. Jonghyun forces Minhyun’s eyes open to see his pupils dilated and moving rapidly. “Oh my god, Minhyun. Hang on. Don’t leave me.”

Minhyun groans. “I—came back from—from the dead for you,” he forces out, gasping for air his lungs can no longer use. “I—won’t—” He breaks off with a sharp inhale as Jonghyun rubs his back.

“I have you. Don’t worry. I have you.” He’s speaking more to reassure himself. Thinking fast, Jonghyun pats down his pockets and comes up with blank paper charm. He grabs a handful of dirt and scribbles out a messy spell on it before pressing it to Minhyun’s chest and reciting the words. “Come on, come on, come on.” Jonghyun channels as much magic into the charm as possible and is met with success.

A shudder passes through Minhyun’s body, then he starts to retch, blood spewing from his mouth. Hacking coughs overtake his body, spraying both Jonghyun and the floor. Jonghyun does his best to hold him steady, but Minhyun tries to push him away and shakes his head. He tries to say something, but no words come out of his mouth, just more blood.

It continues on until Minhyun is done and falls to the ground. Splattered in blood, Jonghyun is frozen for a moment before realizing that Minhyun isn’t waking up. He crawls over to his body and yanks the charm away. Turning him over, Jonghyun notices how hollowed out and gaunt his cheeks look and runs his hands over the bruises starting to form on his skin. Jonghyun sucks in a deep breath and checks for his pulse before remembering that—he doesn’t have a pulse. He’s dead. He just has—

Minhyun’s eyes fly open, red and unfocused. “Blood,” he rasps.

Jonghyun doesn’t even hesitate. He shrugs off his jacket and rips the collar of his shirt open. He moves Minhyun’s mouth to his neck. “Drink, Minhyun. That’s all you have to do. Drink from me.” Minhyun needs to replace the blood he’s lost, Jonghyun is assuming, but he’s too weak to even open his mouth. Jonghyun has to force it open, force his teeth to puncture his skin, but there isn’t enough force. They just scrape against his neck uselessly.

Gritting his teeth, Jonghyun grabs the key and rips a hole in his neck with it. He’s not going to let Minhyun die now, not after getting so far. Blood drips down his neck and to his chest, but Jonghyun doesn’t dwell on the discomfort. Instead, he brings Minhyun’s mouth to his neck again, standing his lips with his blood, and after a few moments, Minhyun’s tongue darts out to lap up the blood, then his mouth latches onto the wound, drinking with frenzied energy. With each mouthful, he seems to grow slightly stronger—yet less aware.

Jonghyun struggles to hold onto his own sanity. His eyes roll up into the back of his head as Minhyun pins him to the ground, drinking and drinking and drinking—

The door opens and Minho bursts through, rage contorting his features. “What the fuck did he—” He stops the moment he spots Minhyun crouched above Jonghyun’s body. The blood drains from his face. “Fuck, you—” But he doesn’t have enough breath the finish his sentence before Minhyun launches himself at him. Minho shoves Boy in between them before flying down the stairs. Minhyun doesn’t hesitate before snapping Boy’s neck with one hand.

With a snarl, he turns to Minho, who has a stake held out in front of him. “Try me, bloodsucker.”

But his back is open and unprotected. His hands slick with blood, Jonghyun pulls out the knife from his pocket. Mustering up all his energy, he throws it at Minho; it lodges itself in Minho’s back with a sickengly wet sound and he stumbles forward into Minhyun’s waiting arms. Faster than the blink of an eye, Minhyun rips the head off Minho’s shoulders and throws it in the corner.

He stands there, chest heaving, covered in blood. His eyes are wild and animalistic—that is, until they land on Jonghyun. Awareness returns to them as he drops to his knees and pulls Jonghyun towards him. “Jonghyun, Jonghyun, Jonghyun,” Minhyun gurgles through the blood in his mouth. He cradles his head in his lap and brushes his hair back. “Don’t—God, I’m so sorry—”

His head throbs. “I’m glad you’re okay,” he forces out. Nothing hurts, really, he just feels… tired and weak, like he can’t even move his arms no matter how hard he tries. “I want to… I want to sleep now.” Darkness edges at his vision and Jonghyun is tempted to surrender to it.

Tears of blood flow down Minhyun’s face. “You can’t sleep,” he says forcefully. He feels for Jonghyun’s pulse. “You’re not allowed to fall asleep on me, you hear that?”

“Please…” He’s so tired and it’s so dark. “I’ll wake up in the morning.”

Minhyun laughs through his tears. “You’re impossible to wake up in the morning, you know? Don’t try that with me.” But he just holds Jonghyun tighter as his eyes close and presses a bloody kiss to his forehead. “Fine… sleep… But you’re not allowed to leave me.”

“Would never leave you again,” Jonghyun manages to mumble out, before everything goes black.


	8. viii. eighth blood

_No one pitied the victim,—no one cursed the assassin. The whole story is, and is better, buried in oblivion._  
— **John William Polidori** , _The Vampyre and Other Tales of the Macabre_

✩

Jonghyun opens his eyes to a white tile ceiling and the overwhelming smell of antiseptic in the air. He accidentally takes a deep breath and coughs; it burns his lungs and reminds him of lying in a hospital bed while waiting to recover from his injuries. Biting his lip to keep from gagging, he rolls onto his side and squeezes his eyes shut once more. _Five more minutes_ , he thinks. _Five more minutes and then—_

“Oh, thank fuck,” a voice says above his head. It sounds like Choi Minki, but that isn’t possible. Choi Minki is not at the enclave—

Which means neither is Jonghyun. His eyes fly open and dart around the room until settling on a very familiar face. “Minki?” It _is_ Choi Minki at his bedside, hair messy and clothes awry. Relief floods his face as he leans forward to grip Jonghyun’s hand in both of his. “What are you—”

Minki hangs his head. “I’ve been at your bedside for like two whole days, you fucking asshole.” Jonghyun thinks he hears tears in Minki’s voice. “When Boa’s people brought you in, you were almost drained.”

Drained… Wincing, Jonghyun pushes himself into a sitting position with the aid of Minki. He doesn’t remember much from before he blacked out. He… sliced his neck open to get Minhyun to drink to replace the blood he’d coughed up trying to get the poison out of his system. And then Minhyun killed both Boy and Minho in front of him… and then darkness. No matter how hard he wracks his brain, he can’t remember anything beyond the deaths.

“How did I get here?” he asks finally. Jonghyun hates feeling disoriented.

Minki sags back in his seat. “Minhyun managed to get you both out of that cellar and contacted Boa’s people. They were able to stabilize you long enough to get you out of the enclave and to the bureau’s medical facilities.”

Jonghyun runs his hands through his hair. Exhaustion creeps into his bones. “How is Minhyun?” he asks, throat dry. “Is he—”

“Hooked up and receiving emergency blood transfusions. He needed a detox, just to make sure all the poison was out.” Minki pauses and smiles reassuringly. “Dongho’s with him. I figured they could… uh, talk. You know, as creatures who had to face their own mortality at some point. Better than suffering on your own, right?”

“Two undead creatures sitting in a room—”

Minki shakes his head. “Don’t. Your jokes are shitty even when you’re fully healed.”

Laughter hurts. Jonghyun presses a hand to his chest and coughs. “I hate you for making me laugh.” Hates and is grateful too. Minki’s a reliable friend. He didn’t have to wait here until Jonghyun woke up, but honestly, Jonghyun can’t imagine him not being here. He reaches over and squeezes Minki’s hand. “I’m glad you’re here.”

“I’m glad you listened to me for once and made it back.” His eyebrows knit together. “Though we’re going to work on the safely part of it next time.”

“Deal.” No more hospitals if he can help it.

Minki pulls away and stretches his arms over his head. “Well, Kahi and Boa are going to want to talk to you now that they know you’re awake, and I have some paperwork to finish.” He gives Jonghyun a gentle pat on the shoulder and stands up. “You scared me there for a while,” he adds in a low voice. “Try not to do something this stupid in the future.”

“Scout’s honor,” Jonghyun says with a smile, and Minki rolls his eyes.

“You are so _lame_.” Minki chuckles and shakes his head. “I’ll let Minhyun know you’re awake too.”

“Thanks, Minki.”

Minki waves him off with a smug smile before leaving the room.

 

* * *

 

He spends half an hour locked up with Kahi and going over the events of the case. She’s merciless in her drive for details and derides Jonghyun for questionable decision making at least ten times during his explanation. By time she’s satisfied, Jonghyun is ready for another nap. “Do I still have to write you a report?” he asks hoarsely as she makes for the door.

“Yes, of course.” The corners of her mouth lift as she pauses by the door. “After you take the month off.”

“You’re giving me a whole month off?” He’s never even gotten a week off at a time because of injuries, but Kahi is gone before he can ask any more questions. Jonghyun shrugs and lies back, figuring he doesn’t need to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Jonghyun barely has a couple of moments before Boa comes into the room, probably sent in by Kahi. He almost doesn’t recognize her; she’s wearing a wide brimmed hat that hides most of her face and a pair of oversized sunglasses underneath that. Coming to a stop beside his bed, she waits for some kind of an acknowledgement. Jonghyun doesn’t have to bow or prostrate himself in front of her anymore. He looks her in the eye and stands his ground. “Uh, hello.”

“Thank you for your hard work, Mr. Kim,” she says, without preamble. “I am not fond of small talk, so I’ll keep this brief.”

He blinks. “I’m alright with that.” He doesn’t want to drag this uncomfortable encounter on longer than he has to either.

“You did an exceptional job on the case.” He thinks she even sounds pleased for a moment there. “I regret your injuries, and Minhyun’s, of course, but I want to commend you for taking care of the problem so swiftly.”

“It… was mostly Minhyun.” He feels uncomfortable taking any credit for what happened. Something about the gratitude makes his skin crawl. “You’re not angry we killed Minho and his accomplice?”

“I don’t care either way, Mr. Kim.” She doesn’t look upset at being denied her justice, and Jonghyun privately sends up a prayer of gratitude. Maybe it’s best that Minhyun killed Minho and Boy quickly; the alternative would’ve been horrible for them. And as much as the memory of Minho in particular fills him with distaste, he didn’t want them to suffer at Boa’s hands. “What matters is that you accomplished what I asked you to.”

“What about the rest of the feeders? What’ll happen to them?” When Boa doesn’t respond, Jonghyun tenses up. “You know they weren’t responsible for any of this, right?”

Silence settles in between them. Boa taps her fingers on her arm and frowns. “I’ll exterminate them. I don’t want any of their ideologies spreading through the coven.”

The thought is horrifying. Vampires are truly horrifying. Minhyun would be disgusted to hear this, he knows. How can Boa kill so many people just because they happened to know Minho and Boy? “But those are thousands of people. You _can’t._ ”

Boa’s expression turns frosty. “You are not liable to tell me what I can and cannot do, Mr. Kim. A quick death is the extent of my mercy for the humans in my enclave.”

Jonghyun opens his mouth to say something else, but Boa cuts him off with a shake of her head. “I hope you recover quickly,” is all she has for him before she sweeps out of the room.

Jonghyun watches her leave and pulls his covers over his head. Unclenching his fingers, he stares at the scars on his palms and closes his eyes. He hates the thought of all those humans being slaughtered en masse. He tried so hard to prevent that from happening, but the truth is, you never really get everything you want. If he has to, he’ll carry the memory of his failure for the rest of his life.

Sleep comes in fits, but Jonghyun dreams of screams.

 

* * *

 

When he wakes up again, his body is tired but otherwise feels okay. No aches or pains, thankfully. The gauze on his neck is a little uncomfortable, but the rest of him feels well enough to walk around. He sneaks into the hallway to buy a chocolate bar from the vending machine once but doesn’t dare venture further than that. Doctor’s orders are still orders. Even a sick Jonghyun who’s sick of lying in bed thinks twice about breaking the rules.

It’s why it takes him such a lot time to muster up the courage to sneak out to Minhyun’s room. That, and he’s not sure if he’s ready to see Minhyun or if Minhyun is ready to see him. The ache in his neck is a reminder of when Minhyun drank from him, but he feels weird about it too—he forced him to. To save his life, but Minhyun told him earlier that this was the line he never wanted to cross.

And Jonghyun made him cross it. He wonders if Minhyun is angry with him.

But he’s done with running away from Minhyun. Jonghyun’s going to face the problem head on and talk to him. Throwing his covers off, he’s barely out the door when Minhyun almost barrels into him. His supernatural grace is the only reason he stops in time, hands darting out to steady Jonghyun on his feet. “Whoa, are you sure you’re supposed to be up?” he asks. He doesn’t sound angry; in fact, he almost sounds relieved to see Jonghyun up and about.

“I’m tired of lying down,” he replies, tipping his head back to meet Minhyun’s eyes. “Tired of being down. Tired of—I think I’m just going to stop talking right now.”

Minhyun laughs and throws his arms around Jonghyun. He squeezes him tight, like he intends to never let go. Or something equally poetic; Jonghyun is not good with words, but he hugs Minhyun back and tucks his face in Minhyun’s chest. He doesn’t want to let go either.

“How are you feeling?” Minhyun asks when he finally pulls away. Jonghyun finds no trace of his ordeal on his face and for that he’s grateful. He looks healthy for a vampire; his cheeks are almost rosy and his eyes clear, if a little red-rimmed. It looks like a good sign.

“I’m good. Better now that I know you’re okay.” It’s true; he was never injured as badly as Minhyun was, just drained of blood. There’s the wound on his neck—he reaches up to slide a finger underneath the gauze, but Minhyun grabs his hand and shakes his head.

“Don’t. You’re going to infect yourself.” He hesitates for a couple of seconds, then adds, “The healers fixed you up for the most part, but from what I remember, it isn’t…”

“It’s ugly, isn’t it?” He laughs, feeling a little lightheaded. It won’t be the first of his ugly scars and probably not the last either. An occupational hazard Jonghyun has learned to live with. “Are you going to confess you only liked me for my body?”

“I liked you for more than just for your body.” Minhyun says, grinning. He traces the lines of Jonghyun’s face and kisses him, gently, reverently, like he’s something precious he refuses to let break. “Sorry, you can’t get rid of me with just a couple of ugly scars.”

“So you do think they’re ugly.”

Minhyun’s expression turns serious. “I would never think any part of you is ugly. Especially not a scar you only got because of me.” He swallows thickly. “Jonghyun, about what happened in the cellar—”

Before Minhyun can get very far, Jonghyun blurts out, “I’m sorry.” Ignoring Minhyun’s look of confusion, he plows on. “For forcing you to drink from me. I know you were uncomfortable with the idea, but I wasn’t thinking. I was just desperate to do something to save you.”

“I should be the one apologizing.” Minhyun pales. His mouth trembles a little. “I nearly killed you, Jonghyun. I took too much and I—I would have rather died than seen anything happen to you.”

“Don’t you think I feel the same way?”

Minhyun doesn’t have a response to that. “I only took this case to protect you, and I kind of messed that up.” He laughs bitterly. “Not even kind of, I definitely messed it up. I ended up being the one who hurt you the most during this case.”

“Remember when you yelled at me for blaming myself for things I couldn’t control? I’m going to have to yell at _you_ now for the same thing.” Jonghyun sucks in a deep breath. Truth is, he doesn’t know how to say this, but he thinks he needs to. “I spent the longest time figuring out why you came back when you told me you never wanted to live as a vampire. And I think deep down I was angry at you for changing your mind—because I was ready to mourn you, but I didn’t know what to do with a vampire Minhyun in my life.”

“Jonghyun…” Minhyun looks uncomfortable.

“But I realized that you came back because you promised me you would.” He held onto those words for the months that Minhyun was gone, hoping without hope that he would return, and hoping he _wouldn’t_ when he remembered what the coven had planned for Minhyun. “Or… am I just really off the mark here, because that happens too.”

Shaking his head, Minhyun cups Jonghyun’s face between his hands. “You’re right,” he says quietly. “I came back for you." Even though Jonghyun already guessed as much, it still hits him a punch to this gut. "And I waited for you to take as long as you could to get used to this." Minhyun is kind enough not to mention how long it took. It was Jonghyun's fault and he fully owns up to it. He turtled and surrounded himself with his fears, his doubts, his _anger_ for so long that he thought he was going to be buried in it. He was drowning until Minhyun pulled his head up above the water. "I’m glad you finally did.” He leans down to kiss Jonghyun again, grinning. “Because that means I can do this now as many times as I want.”

Jonghyun smiles against his mouth. “Well, we have all the time in the world for each other.”

“Since when did you get so cheesy?” Minhyun shoots back, pulling away from Jonghyun. He doesn’t know if it’s possible for vampires to be embarrassed, but Jonghyun thinks he can see warmth spread across his cheeks.

“I’ve always been this cheesy. You just forgot.”

“Yeah… five whole years.”

They fall silent. There’s still a mess Jonghyun and Minhyun have to deal with in their wake, paperwork and reports and more debriefings that Jonghyun is tempted to try and skip out on. They have to work out what they are to each other now, where to go from here, what to be, but they can take it slow. Jonghyun’s done running now and for the rest of his life. He refuses to run from Minhyun anymore.

Five years is a long time, but now they have eternity ahead of them.

He presses his forehead against Minhyun’s and closes his eyes. “Five whole years to get back to you.”

“Cheesy,” Minhyun repeats, but he’s laughing too.

And Jonghyun thinks he could get used to this again.


	9. epilogue: bloodless

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this epilogue was added on **march 03** , after the end of the wanna one fic exchange.

_I think we deserve_  
_a soft epilogue, my love._  
_We are good people_  
_and we’ve suffered enough._  
— **Nikka Ursula** , from _Seventy Years of Sleep_

✩

“I hate surprise parties,” Jonghyun says.

Standing outside the BSA headquarters with a suspiciously worded note crumpled in his hand, he squints up at the windows of their offices on the fifth floor and tries to figure out what’s going on inside. It’s dark, no sickly yellow lighting emanating from within, and that much is enough for him to realize the rest of the office is probably crouched under their desks in pitch darkness waiting for Jonghyun and Minhyun to arrive.

Choi Minki’s doing. Jonghyun wants to sigh. He really _is_ an occupational hazard.

That explains the note then. Tucked into the fruit basket left on his doorstep this morning, it read ‘ _Don’t you think you should dress up a bit for your first day back at work? ^^ Ps. don’t be late. — Minki._ ’ Part of Jonghyun did not want to know what Minki was planning and did his best to ignore it until it was time to head to work. Now, he’s regretting not being better prepared and regretting wearing the platypus-patterned tie Minhyun bought him last week.

Minhyun throws an amused look at him and takes a step towards the front doors. “It’s not a surprise party,” he says placatingly, “It’s a welcome back party that _happens_ to be a surprise.” Minhyun always sounds more optimistic about these things than Jonghyun does. Almost like he’s looking forward to the loud chatter, music, alcohol-infused evening they have ahead of them.

Maybe he is. Jonghyun can’t remember the last time he’s seen Minhyun attended one of these things, much less be the centre of attention.

“Still a surprise,” he says, but allows Minhyun to drag him up the stairs and inside the building. Despite his discomfort, Jonghyun is willing to stick it out for a little while, just grin and bear it while catching up on everything he missed. He never would have thought a month away would result in him missing the bureau or the people there, but… vacations are a time for self-discovery, he guesses.

“Don’t worry.” Minhyun’s hand in warm in his. He laces their fingers together and grins. “You can stick by my side.” Before Jonghyun has a chance to reply, Minhyun pulls him closer until he’s stumbling right into Minhyun’s outstretched arms. Flushing, Jonghyun buries his face in Minhyun’s chest.

“You know that’s almost worse, right? People will have questions.”

Minhyun shrugs as Jonghyun pulls away. “Let them. They better get used to it again.” Under the stars, his eyes burn with a silent challenge, and Jonghyun fights to hold in his laughter as he heads for the stairs.

“Try telling that to Minki.”

“Minki would cry if we told him we were—” Halfway up the stairs, Minhyun stops. “If we…” He’s struggling for words trying to define their relationship in one word. Jonghyun wishes he could help him, but the truth is, he doesn’t know either. Everything about the past month has been tentative and hesitant, taking baby steps forward. Right now, maybe it’s just enough to say—

“Together,” Jonghyun says, taking two steps at a time. Minhyun blinks up at him before a slow smile overtakes his features. He quickens his pace and surpasses Jonghyun, pausing at the top of his stairs to look down at him.

“Works for me.”

 

* * *

 

Once they arrive at their floor, four things happen in quick succession:

  1. Minki is the first to yell “SURPRISE!” as he pops up from underneath his desk and shoots a party popper right into Jonghyun’s eye, nearly blinding him for life were it not for Minhyun’s supernatural reflexes. 
  2. The loud noise startles Minghao’s pet hellhound into growing four times its size and spewing fire from its mouth… and something else from the other end. 
  3. Sungyeon, whose desk takes the worst of it, bursts into tears when she sees that her pet goldfish is no longer amongst the living and has to be escorted out of the room by Minkyung while Minki tries to resurrect him. 
  4. Minghao’s hellhound eats the fish before Minki can bring it back.



Jonghyun stands there at the entrance with his arms crossed over his chest, a fond smile tugging at his lips. He really did miss this place and all its insanity, from Minki’s obnoxious laughter to Dongho’s quiet shuffling and Seungcheol’s excited howls accidentally bursting out of him. Even Dr. Kwak is here, on the sole condition that he’s not allowed to talk to anyone (Minki’s orders) and just stands there with a drink in his hand. Kyungwon eventually puts him out of his misery by asking him about the weather but Jonghyun sends a sympathetic smile his way anyway.

As predicted, the office is loud, chaotic, and most people are edging towards drunk within the hour. But Jonghyun doesn’t mind it as much as he thought he would. His coworkers and friends are excited to have him back, have Minhyun back, and he appreciates the way they pull the two back into the fold as if they never left in the first place. Though Jonghyun doesn’t miss the way their eyes linger on the both of them, no one says anything (to their face), and he’s grateful for their tactful silence. He just wants to enjoy this as much as he can.

“So what did we miss?” Minhyun asks, a glass of something dark and thick in his hand. Jonghyun sticks to beer, not wanting to sample any of Minki’s creations. “Anything interesting happen while we were gone?”

Dongho scoffs. “You take a month off and suddenly turn into a gossiping neighbourhood auntie?”

“I like to stay informed,” Minhyun shoots back. Jonghyun laughs into his drink and Minhyun elbows him a little too hard in response. The beer goes down the wrong pipe and he chokes, and Seungcheol pats him on the back with too much enthusiasm. Jonghyun feels thoroughly abused.

“Weeeeeeell,” Minki drags the word out, perched on his desk with a startlingly neon green cocktail in his hands. “Let’s see. Nayoung and Jieqiong went to Atlantis and adopted a shark.”

“We did not adopt a shark,” Nayoung cuts in. "There are no sharks here."

"Minghao and Mingyu finally started dating."

"And broke up three hours later," Jeonghan adds from the back, raising an eyebrow.

"We got back together," Minghao says heatedly. "It was only a ten minute break up."

"Congratulations?" Jonghyun offers, not sure what he's supposed to be celebrating here, but Minghao and Mingyu look happy, and that's really what matters. He misses that, just a little bit, the whole honeymoon period of relationships. Bickering, making up, staring into each other's eyes like you're the only people in the world. He steals a glance at Minhyun and meets his eye. Minhyun smiles wryly and tips his glass towards Jonghyun.

"And... Dongho lost another arm, so I'm trying to find him a new one now." Minki finishes his mini update with a flourish, and Dongho waves at the sound of his name. "That's about it. I mean, you guys were only out for a month. Not much happened."

"Good to know." Before Jonghyun can continue, Minki clears his throat.

"Anything you guys want to share with us?" He looks pointedly at the lack of distance between Jonghyun and Minhyun. "Like when you two brokered a peace treaty?"

"We were never at war." But Minhyun refuses to say more and gives Jonghyun a meaningful look instead.

Jonghyun clears his throat, suddenly too aware of all the people looking at them with curious gazes. "It's in the past," he says, but it doesn't sound like enough. "We're working on it." He doesn't want to commit to anything concrete because they haven't discussed what they are or what they want to be beyond 'together.' And everyone here, while well meaning and supportive, also put far too much pressure on them--intentionally or not.

"Hey, that's cool. Just take your time." Minki's smile holds real fondness as he thumps Jonghyun on the back. "I'm just glad you're--" he breaks off, choking up, and Dongho has to pull him out of the crowd with his only hand.

"Nothing to see here!" Dongho calls out. "Move along people!"

Jonghyun shakes his head and chuckles. Minhyun gets swept along with the crowd as half of them rush to tease the heck out of Minki for "disgusting emotional emotional displays," and Jonghyun catches a glimpse of him laughing openly in a way he hasn't seen for a long time. It's... heartwarming.

Jonghyun isn't going to pretend to not realize their break had spilled over to their social circles as well, cutting Minhyun off from some of their friends. It was like the aftermath of a messy breakup, where people picked sides and drew lines in the sand. There's a deep, abiding guilt in the pit of his stomach over that, and it sobers him up even as people around him celebrate. Minhyun looks happy, unconcerned, and Jonghyun doesn't want to take that away from him.

Sucking in a deep breath, he downs the rest of his beer and searches for an exit.

 

* * *

 

He escapes to the roof. It takes a small spell to melt the lock and bypass the locked door and then he's free from the suffocating heat of the party.

There's only so much social interaction Jonghyun can handle without wanting to retreat into his room. He reached that threshold a while ago, but home is far away and every seems to be enjoying themselves--except him. No, he was enjoying himself too, but he overthinks even when he's supposed to be relaxing. It has always been his biggest problems.

Jonghyun doesn’t want to be the one to ruin anyone's fun. So he heads up to his workplace hideaway and leans against the railing, his head tipped back to the stars. The naked night sky is beautiful. Though the stars are barely visible out here, he prefers it to the artificial brightness and clarity of the enclave's fake sky. This is home, he thinks, hugging himself tightly to combat the biting wind. This, and—

"You were up here," Minhyun's voice floats over. "I should have known." His drink still in hand, he comes to stand beside Jonghyun and swirls his glass, smiling ruefully. "Needed a breather?"

Jonghyun exhales. "Yeah." Stifling a yawn, he looks over at nods at the glass. "What're you drinking?"

"Oh," Minhyun looks down with a chuckle. "Something called a 'Bloody Minki.' I... don't want to ask. I don't want to know, period." He drains the rest of the glass and sets it gently on the floor before looking up and letting out a wistful sigh. "I haven't been up here in ages," he says. Jonghyun can hear the nostalgia in his voice; this used to be a shared secret space until Minhyun just stopped using it all of a sudden.

He doesn't need to ask why, but something pushes him to anyway. "How come?"

Minhyun continues to look up at the stars. The light reflects off his eyes, reminding Jonghyun of twin rubies. "Minki told me that people usually split everything down in the middle in a divorce. I got the copy room near the washrooms, so I thought the roof was yours. I knew how much you liked coming up here, taking a break from everything and everyone."

"We didn't get divorced," Jonghyun says lamely. He guessed it was something like that.

Minhyun laughs; he’s started to sound more natural these days. "Didn't we? In a way, at least."

It definitely was as dramatic of a situation as that, but also—"We never formally broke up," Jonghyun says suddenly. It was assumed after Minhyun went missing and came back, but he doesn’t recall having a conversation about it, or even sending Minki to deliver the bad news. He wonders if they were just dating this whole time without knowing it. Or even worse, became one of those people ‘on a break.’

"No," Minhyun agrees. "I just died."

"You didn't _die_ either." Jonghyun’s fingers clench.

"Sometimes I used to think I did. That this life was an illusion.” His voice is faint, faraway. He closes his eyes and inhales sharply. “I don’t know. Things are better now. Better than I really could have hoped for, but a small part of me still thinks I—” Breaking off, he shakes his head. “But happier days, right?” Contrary to his words, he sounds sincere and hopeful about the future.

Jonghyun tries to match it. “You sound optimistic.”

“I am.” Minhyun smiles and turns to him. “I’m looking forward to the future in a way I couldn’t before.”

“How do you do it?” When Minhyun doesn’t answer, he elaborates. “How do you stay positive? How do you trust the future will be better? How did you stay away for so long?”

“You’re not the only one who was afraid, Jonghyun.” Minhyun is matter-of-fact, almost cold as he speaks. “You’re not the only one who’s still afraid and unsure and overwhelmed. I just want to believe in the positives. It’s a decision I make and not just something that comes naturally.”

“What are you afraid of?”

“Everything. Rejection. _You_.” He shifts closer until they’re touching. “Especially now, since…” Hesitating, Minhyun pulls out a file from inside his jacket and hands it over to Jonghyun. “Kahi stopped by earlier to hand give me a new case—it’s a simple B &E, but I was… wondering if you wanted to work it together.”

Jonghyun opens it without really reading any of its contents. Working a case together with Minhyun again… He genuinely wants to; they’ve talked about it vaguely every now and then, but never formally. Even though the last time things didn’t go perfectly, Jonghyun thought they made a good team. He wouldn’t mind making that an actual thing. “Like partners again?”

Minhyun squirms. “Yeah, partners.” He sounds cautiously hopeful, peering at Jonghyun with bright eyes. He wrings his hands together. “Of course, I understand why you’d refuse, but I—”

“ _Yes_ ,” Jonghyun says, no hesitations or questions asked. He’s tired of overthinking it, tired of hesitating and questioning himself when it comes to Minhyun. For once, he just wants to do, not think. “Yes. Partners again.” Before Minhyun can say anything, Jonghyun grabs him by the collar and kisses him soundly, the taste of blood mixing with something fruity underneath, and it’s warm, a little biting, but everything Jonghyun could’ve hoped for.

As he pulls away, Minhyun snickers. “That’s an enthusiastic yes.”

“I’m enthusiastic about everything you do.”

“You’re being cheesy again, oh no.”

“You love it,” Jonghyun says, laughing, and Minhyun ducks his head.

“I love _you_ ,” he says, and Jonghyun just pulls him in for another kiss.

He knows, and he’s never doubted it for a second.

 

* * *

 

Jonghyun throws the case file into the _COMPLETED_ pile with a confident grin. It’s the first time Jonghyun has finished his paperwork so quickly, and he mostly thanks Minhyun and his speedy writing for that. But he can take credit—teamwork and all. “Another case completed. That’s how many more than you guys now?”

“Six,” Minhyun supplies helpfully. He smirks and takes a seat at his desk, spinning around in his chair. “Six more than Minki and Dongho.”

“Screw off,” Minki groans. He slams his head down on his desk and groans again. “I hate you guys. I think I liked it better when you hated each other.” Dongho gives them a thumbs up from his desk… or flips them the bird; Jonghyun can’t really tell anymore.

“You wanted the ‘Dream Team’ back together,” Minhyun points out, smug. He leans back in his chair and and folds his hands on top of his chest. “So this is partially your fault.”

Minki’s head shoots up. Eyes narrowed, he looks at the both of them, Jonghyun lingering by Minhyun’s desk, and frowns. “Any chance you guys are willing to break up again for the sake of my and Dongho’s record?” 

“Nope.” Jonghyun drapes an arm around Minhyun’s shoulder and presses his lips to his cheek. Minhyun laughs, embarrassed, but doesn’t pull away. “The Dream Team’s here to stay.”

**Author's Note:**

> this whole fic has been a crazy journey. it was my first time attempting something of this genre and magnitude, and while there was a lot i wanted to accomplish with this fic that i didn't get a chance to because of time/plot/other constraints, i still hope people enjoy some small part of it. 
> 
> **edit:** now with an epilogue chapter that officially concludes the fic! there will be no future updates with new content. 
> 
> a huge thank you to E, M, and V who are basically the only reason i actually managed to finish this, and a shout out to S for holding my hand through multiple breakdowns over the past month and a half. thank you also to H who sprinted with me multiple times and C for helping me out with some of the chapter headers. and to everyone who put up with me during my crazy stressed writing and editing period, you da real mvp and i love you. 
> 
> thank you for reading ❤


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